Me Me
Please let me introduce myself. For those of who don't know, my name is Thomas Whalen. Well, actually my "real" name is George Thomas Hall II. But, adoption at the age of six gave me the better name. I was born May 16, 1972 at Harrison Memorial Hospital (Cynthiana, Kentucky) to Mary Elizabeth Nagel Hall and George Thomas Hall.I lived in Berry, Kentucky, up to the age of six. Just before Christmas of 1977 my mother was hit at the driver's side of a "Vegus" (small, compact car borrowed from a friend) by a Diesel Train on a foggy, cold morning. She lived for two weeks in a deep coma before succumbing to death. Immediately, my brother and I were taken in as foster children by John & Gerry Whalen (both realtors). From 1978 to 1996 I lived in Cynthiana, Kentucky with my adoptive family. Without much of their love, support and caring, I could not have made it down the long road of personal growth I have since been traveling. In 1997, I moved to Lexington, Kentucky, to live the "big city life". After finding that bigger does not mean better I decided this was the time to move on to greater things. I packed my bags and took a ticket to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to live with a friend.
By mid 1997 I was finally on my feet and got my first apartment in Sioux Falls. You can not imagine, unless of course you have moved long distance, how strange it felt for me to settle down in a city 1,100 miles away from home. Oddly enough, I felt that Sioux Falls "WAS" home. In the summer of 1998, much to the amazement of family and shock by those who said I "would never make it in college", I entered Colorado Technical University as a transferring freshman.