Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk
Seed Planter

by Coke Buchanan

Artist and humanitarian Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk strives to form alliances to bring the world closer together philosophically and environmentally by celebrating diversity and promoting collaboration.

Inspired by the philanthropy and activism of her family and father, the late John Philp Thompson, the longtime CEO of 7- 11 Corporation, Mary Ann’s humanitarian focus is an extension of their community involvement and stand against prejudice. By the age of 27 her grandfather, Joe C. Thompson, had served on three City Councils. And at a time of civil injustice, he helped lead the charge to integrate the State Fair of Texas. “My father followed suit in the ‘90s as head of the State Fair when, in spite of threats, he refused to ban the Gay Pride parade because he saw it as similar discrimination,” Mary Ann says. “He later marched in the parade to demonstrate his stand against prejudice.”

“My father told me that this world owes us nothing, yet we owe it to the world to make it a better place.” says Mary Ann. “Because of my hearing loss, seizures, migraines, chronic asthma, and ethnicity, it might have been easy to grow up feeling sorry for myself, but he taught me to see my challenges as opportunities for strength and wisdom.”

“When I was thirteen years old, I experienced a prophetic dream in which I was creating places throughout the world where people from different cultures met to exchange their unique knowledge of the arts, sciences, and spiritual practices.

When I asked my father if such a thing could be possible, he said, “I've made my fortune building stores around the world that helped fill my family's pocket. Now don't you think you can build something around the world that helps fill people's needs?” During a visit to the ancient Mesoamerican pyramids of Xochicalco, I learned that leaders from many onetime warring tribes built a city together to share their culture and spirituality, and to advance science. I was sure then that it could be done again.”

At age 25, Mary Ann met Sherri Reed, Founder of Sanctuary For Life, an organization dedicated to creating living sanctuaries for emotional, physical, and personal renewal, and joined the organization as its first vice president. Soon afterwards, Mary Ann founded the Memnosyne Speaker Series through Sanctuary For Life. “Named after the Greek goddess of knowledge and memory, and the mother of the nine muses, Memnosyne was created for people to exchange spiritual, philosophical, scientific, and cultural knowledge leading to the recognition of the humanity everyone shares,” Mary Ann explains. “While the focus on globalization is how it will affect the world economy, few are discussing how else it will affect humanity. We can choose to let it evolve randomly, or we can choose to collaborate and become conscious cultural creators of humanity’s future.”

The first event, held this past summer at the Dallas Arboretum, brought together 40 spiritual leaders from western, eastern, indigenous, and new-age traditions. They discussed the spiritual and physical human experience, the commonality of beliefs, the environment, and how mankind can establish harmonious goals to progress in unity while respecting valuable differences.

The event led to the inspiration for Memnosyne to take flight as its own foundation and enfold the entire scope of Mary Ann’s original vision. "If we are to discover how we can benefit from living together in a compassionate world, we need to build bridges between experts of different fields as much as between cultures or religions," she says. “The Speaker Series is just the beginning of the Memnosyne vision, where campuses located worldwide will be dedicated to building those bridges.”

Although Memnosyne is the most important cause for Mary Ann, she is also a professional artist, having recently received ARTV's Sculptor of The Year Award. And, her company, Thompson Fine Arts, Inc., was nominated for DBCA's prestigious Obelisk Award for donating gallery space to the Visual Arts Coalition of Dallas, which represents over 7,500 visual artists, and where she serves as chair of the Advisory Board. Mary Ann has served on 14 different nonprofit boards, and with her husband, Joshua Raymond Frenk, has sponsored many programs promoting human rights and a clean environment. They have collaborated with cultures around the world and will travel to Rwanda and Kenya this spring with the Heifer Project, whose mission is caring for the earth and ending world hunger and poverty.

“Dad was always turning negatives into positives, so as a tribute to his life and his battle with brain cancer, my husband and I launched the John Philip Thompson Foundation to support research for non-radiation/non-chemotherapy healing and cures for glioblastoma. Our first donation went to Duke University's Brain Tumor Center's Immunotherapy program. It was an incredible feeling to help. Somewhere, dad was smiling!” Mary Ann continues, “Ricardo Cervantes, a Toltec shaman at Teotihuacán and influential teacher in my life, told me to be a seed planter for others to benefit, leaving it for them to decide if they want to make it grow. My life's purpose is giving others that chance.”