After
an hour in the company of Rebecca Lomax I could describe her in
two words. Eloquent and elegant! However, there is much to this
woman, who with her husband Frank Weicks, has made Chiang Mai
her home.
She was born in Laurel, Mississippi, a
company town, only remembered for the building material Masonite
that was invented there. Her father was a newspaperman and ran a
small printing business. Rebecca said, “I grew up with
newspapers. My first job was proofreading for 10 baht an hour
when aged nine. But homework came first,” she quickly added.
Her parents also instilled into the family that they had a
responsibility, to “give back” to their communities.
She was forward academically right from the
start, and was lucky that she had an elder sister who taught her
to read and write before she was old enough to go to school.
After that head start, school was obviously a breeze for the
bright young girl, but when she finished school she did not know
where her career path really lay. “I hadn’t worked it out -
and I’m still trying to work that out!” she said with a
laugh.
She went to university to study biology as
she felt that she wanted to do something related to science, but
when she got married she went to work to help the family
finances. She secured a position in a psychiatric hospital for
the chronically mentally ill. This led her towards the social
sciences and she took qualifications as a Social Worker. It was
a time of change in the US. Segregation had been outlawed and
other societal steps forward. “Social work seemed a place I
wanted to be,” explained Rebecca simply. Later she was to take
a Masters degree and Doctorate in Social Work.
After the mental hospital, where everyone
wanted to say they were normal so they could get out, her next
employer was the prisons service. “This was very different.
Everybody wanted to be mentally ill!” Rebecca explained. Two
years was enough for Assistant Warden Lomax!
However, she did know that social work was
really her true field and she accepted a post in social work
through the Catholic church (even though she was not a Catholic)
to look after the poor. This was in the greater New Orleans
area, and with the liberalization of society, people were being
able to leave institutions. However, they often would not know
what to do, or how to look after themselves, they had become so
institutionalized. To assist in this area, Rebecca wrote
programs for social workers to follow, so that these people
could be reintroduced to life outside (the so-called
‘normal’ life).
After 15 years of working with the Catholic
charities, husband Frank came home with a bombshell. He was
asked to transfer to Chiang Mai in Thailand. Rebecca freely
admits that her first thoughts were, “Where is Chiang Mai,
Thailand?” (What some local people may find difficult to
understand is that for many people on the other side of the
world, they do not know where Thailand is, not being one of the
G8 super powers, no matter what some politicians might have you
believe!) Her second thoughts were, “Do I really want to leave
the peace and security for something unknown?” They discussed
their hopes and fears. The family was old enough to take care of
themselves, what had they to lose? “We decided this was
something we would do for us.”
It was 1998, and they arrived here, never
having been to Asia before. As has happened with so many of us,
they fell in love with it. Frank had a job, but Rebecca did not.
“Something will come up,” she said. “That was the first
time in my life I’d ever thought that way.” That
“something” did not come up immediately, with Rebecca
saying, “The first year I was here I read 226 books. I was
having a sabbatical from life,” was the way she described
those 12 months, but then something did come up.
This was a group called the Elder Hostel in
America, which is a travel group of older Americans who want to
learn about their destinations. “I set up a lecture group for
three weeks of intensive training,” said our retired social
worker. “It was a nice source of meeting other people with
like interests.”
The sabbatical over, she has thrown herself
back into the social work field. She has run training sessions
for the Thai Social Services, in working with abused children,
she is a fervent member of FERC (the Foundation for the
Education of Rural Children), and the Tennis is My Dream group
that gives young Thai children the opportunity to play the game,
which could see them as the next Paradorn or Tammy. Of course,
these are only a few of the groups that take up her time,
experience and abilities these days. “Frank finds social
issues, so that gives me work.” In fact, one of Frank’s
familiar phrases is, “Becky will help you with that!” and
with Frank taking over one of the local Rotary Clubs, he will
find many more.
Her main hobby is reading. The nine year old
proof-reader is still reading, “even if it’s just cereal
boxes,” said Rebecca. If she’s not reading, then she is
writing, something that she really enjoys, even if it is just
the once a month letter home to family and friends. (She also
pens the occasional articles for Chiangmai Mail, which
are always informative.)
Her other enjoyment is travel, which they are
now doing regularly, through Asia and back to the US each year.
“My aim is travel and more travel,” said the lady who
certainly does know, these days, just where Chiang Mai Thailand
really is!
As we concluded the interview Dr. Rebecca Lomax said, “Life
is good. I am getting great pleasure from my life here. I am
living my dream.” Many of us sincerely hope that dream
continues!
