John C. Thompson was born on January 2, 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts to Robert Donald (Sr.) and Kathleen Thompson. He was the second of three children and was preceded in death by his sister Joyce Farrough of Ontario, Canada and his brother Robert Donald Thompson Jr. of Hingham, Massachusetts.John enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp in 1941 and served at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba later was stationed at Camp Pendleton. He married Dorothy L. Olson on September 16,1944. Dorothy passed away on December 20, 2008. He lived in Downey for 68 years. John was a member of Messiah Lutheran Church for 43 years. Prior to that he attended Redeemer Lutheran Church in South Gate and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Downey. At Messiah he served as an elder, president, teacher, choir member and other leadership positions. He was active in the Lutheran Layman's League for many years working on a variety of programs including the Lutheran Hour Float for the Rose Parade. Early in his career he ran a 76 Union Oil gas station. Then he sold life insurance for Family Life and later Aid Association for Lutherans. John was a strong, hard working father of seven children: Robert Thompson, Eileen Tucker, Joan Martin, Richard Thompson, Becky Romano, John Thompson and David Thompson. He was grandfather to Steven, Brett, Tiffany, Christine, Scott, Sara, Jill, Amy, Jennifer, Paul, Rob, Matthew, Stephanie, and Rocket. He was great-grandfather to Lily, Anthony, Sean, Benjamin, and Jeremy. John passed away on October 3, 2010. A private family interment will be held at Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier on Friday, October 15, 2010, followed by a public memorial service at 11:00 a.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church in Downey. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the John Thompson Memorial Fund at Messiah Lutheran Church, 10711 Paramount Blvd., Downey, CA 90241.

********** Published: October 7, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 25