About Goofy Tom

 A Capsule Autobiography:  Thomas R. Clay, Ph.D.

This condensed life-story uses info collected on a form distributed by niece Cambria at the 2009 Clay family reunion.

My name is:  Thomas Richard Clay (John is my Catholic Confirmation name).

I am connected to the Clays in the following way:  son of William and June Clay (3rd child, eldest son).

[siblings in birth order: Sharon, Karen, Susan, Terry Ann, Michael, James.]

[married in 1968 to Jacqueline, amicably divorced in 1976; birth of son Zachariah Sean (Zach) on July 17, 1972.]

Here is where I was born:  St. Joseph’s Hospital, South Bend, Indiana, USA; November 29, 1947.

Some of the places that I have lived are (in chronological order):  South Bend, Indiana; Niles, Michigan; Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego, California; Chicago, Illinois; Reno, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona (again, as “adult”); Tempe, Arizona; Scottsdale, Arizona; Corona del Mar, California; Newport Beach, California; Los Angeles, California; Redondo Beach, California; Marina del Rey, California; Santa Monica, California (27 years!); Mesa Arizona (2017 to present).

Schools I have attended and subjects I have studied include:  grade 1-2: Niles, Michigan; grade 3-8: St. Francis Xavier School, Phoenix AZ; high school: Brophy College Preparatory, Phoenix (“classical diploma”); college freshman: University of San Diego (California); college sophomore-Senior: Loyola University of Chicago, B.S. Psychology; University of Nevada, Reno, Social Psychology (graduate school for two years); University of California, Irvine, Ph.D. Social Ecology (Public Health, Criminology focus); University of Southern California, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Psychology.

Jobs I have had and places I have worked include (in chronological order):  paperboy, Phoenix Gazette and then Arizona Republic (first jobs); switchboard operator and faculty dining room waiter, Brophy College Prep (to pay off tuition). Many part-time college jobs including: picking cantaloupes in Yuma, AZ (one day!); Arizona Highway Dept. (survey stake-holder for construction of Black Canyon Freeway at Happy Valley Road, and sweeping freeway median strip); nighttime long-distance phone operator for Chicago business (free phone calls to girlfriend Jacque in Phoenix, leading to marriage!); delivery driver for a Rogers Park liquor store, and then for a Jewish meat market; temp job ABC-TV at infamous 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention; warehouse worker blowing up and packaging hard rubber beach balls (two days is all I could last!); retail sales at Penney's department store. Also university graduate school positions as Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, and part-time jobs such as research site manager for a study of prisoner victimization at the California Institution For Men. Then adult full-time jobs as marketing research assistant in Phoenix; Evaluation Coordinator, Phoenix Alcohol Safety Action Project (U.S. Dept. of Transportation); Teaching Assistant, U.C. Irvine; DUI Project Director, Los Angeles Municipal Courts; Consultant, Los Angeles County Department. of Health Services; Counseling and Testing Unit Manager, Los Angeles County AIDS Programs; Research Manager for a nonprofit residential drug treatment program; and lastly, a career change to be a Communications Consultant and Salesperson for Motorola radio, wireless data and security equipment; happily retired in 2014.

Hobbies/things I like to do in my free time:  racquetball (20s-30s); bicycling, hiking (20s-60s); walking and other exercise; tent camping; swing and ballroom dancing; computer play and website design; reading; streaming TV and going out to movies, museums, music, theatre, restaurants; household projects and gardening (bought first home in 2013 and remodeled it in 2020!); progressive/liberal political activism; hosting Social Progressives Meetup events; volunteering with an Alcoholics Anonymous committee on Public Information and Cooperation with the Professional Community (since April 22, 1997).

If someone reads this 100 years from now I would like them to know the following about me:  That I tried (“progress not perfection”!) to be a loving son to my parents; a loving brother to my siblings; a loving cousin; a loving husband to my wife Jacque (married from 1968-1976); a loving father to my son Zach; a loving uncle to my nieces, nephews, and their children; and a loyal friend to my “GoofyPals.” My watchword (guiding principle) is embodied in the Serenity Prayer and by the phrase “Progress not Perfection.” My “totem” is Goofy, the Disney cartoon character – not only is he funny (helping me maintain a sense of humor in daily life), but he also exemplifies character traits to which I aspire: affable optimism in attempting to do new things, “goofing” them up, but never giving up; being cheerful, eternally loyal, and always willing to help his friends; having a gentle, childlike innocence and wonder about the world around him; and always assuming the best about his fellow man and woman. To quote Goofy: “Hahyup, hahyup, well garwsh”! My life was JOY-FULL!

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