Vivien was bornAugust 29, 1910 in New Iberia Louisiana by Mary Eaton and William Marco Thomas. Vivien attended Pearl High School. Vivien worked as a carpenter and saved the money so he could go to college to become Cardiac Surgeon, but his dreams were demolished by the stock market crash of 1929 (Great Depression.) He asked a Best friend, Charles Manlof, if there was a job at Vanderbilt. Charles told Vivien there was an opening in the experimental surgery room with Dr. Blalock. Although Vivien was able to experiment surgery by himself, he was still payed and classified as a janitor. After 16 years Blalock was offered a job at John's Hopkins hospital. Blalock insisted that Vivien came with him. Vivien was considering on staying until
