Jeffrey Thompson

Moments

Bob Murphy leads his wife, Betsey, to the fire station in Divernon, Ill. to cast their votes. "I used to walk behind her, but my knees went bad," Bob said. The couple has been voting together for 59 years.
  
Lonsdale Kindergarten students spend recess on the playground at Montgomery-Lonsdale Elementary School East. The school, which just opened this year to support the population growth in Lonsdale, Minn. has the largest kindergarten class the district has seen.
   
Ramsey International Fine Arts Center eighth-graders Alexandra Alcantar, left, and Bianca Ixtlilico relaxed during down time between performances with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis, Minn. The students were two of more than 100 from the Minneapolis school that joined the Minnesota Orchestra for the first time.
     
  
Belle Plaine High School senior Ashley Mellgren, left, pulls her 14-year-old sister, Janelle, on a swing at their home outside of Cologne, Minn. "I could never live in the city," Mellgren said. "Out here it's just so peaceful."
  
Brandon Hilliard, 10, and other children beat the heat while they played in an open fire hydrant in Springfield., Ill.
   
Vistors walk through downtown Springfield, Ill. during the Fourth Annual Route 66 Mother Road Festival.
     
  
St. Olaf College students enter the waters of the Cannon River in Northfield, Minn. for their journey downstream.
  
Grounded snow kites wait to be launched into the wind on White Bear Lake in Mahtomedi, Minn.
   
Members of the American Legion Color Guard clean up after a Memorial Day ceremonyat Lura Cemetery outside of Easton, Minn.
     
  
Pearl Harbor survivor Charles Pinnell pauses for the playing of taps after he and other survivors laid a wreath in Lake Springfield during Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
  
A group of campers waited for instructions during a military exercise at Operation Purple Summer Camp in Hudson, Wisconsin. The weeklong camp offered kids of servicemen and women an opportunity to gather together, gain insight into their parent's lives and share their experiences with fellow campers and staff.
  
Raven Maretti, 8, hugs her grandmother, Bernice, before departing for her first communion in Nokomis, Ill.
     
  
Arvilla Chapman, center, received comfort from her daughter, Heather McInnis, left, and Jess Axt, right, at Burnsville High School. Chapman and Axt lost their pets and all other posessions in a fire at Burncliff Apartments in Burnsville.
   
Former student and current staff member Bob Brown lays his hands on a student as they pray during a chapel service at Teen Challenge in Colfax, Iowa.
  
Reverend Dr. Michael Dixon leads a service at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Centrailia, Missouri. The church has a congregation of 30 people, but Rev. Dixon insists big things can happen in small places.
     
  
Stefan Kavan avoided the loud noises as classmates celebrated their graduation from New Prague High School around him. Stefan was diagnosed with autism in 1995, and during the last four years, he has been teaching classmates and the community about what it is like to live with the disorder.
   
Tom Auger of Lake Elmo, Minn. sits in the stillness as he fishes the St. Croix River.