George Thompson

George Otho Thompson, Jr. who was born into this world on April 14, 1933 in Alliance, Ohio, died on Saturday, July 14, 2018 at the age of 85, with the dubious privilege, as he would say, of living fifteen years beyond the average life span.  He is survived by his wife of sixty years, Kathleen Buell. They were married on June 28, 1958, and he enjoyed those years bringing up their children, moving to various places around the country, traveling as often as possible, working tirelessly as a banker, reading insatiably, and teasing anyone who would tolerate it from him.   George has been blessed with four surviving children and their spouses: George Otho Thompson, III and Sonja Beth Quimby, Amy and Steve O’Neal, Elizabeth and Dan Rademacher, and Margaret (Meg) and Robert Walter.  A great source of pride to him was his grandchildren:  Sarah (Sturgeon) and husband Sebastian Sorsaburu, Kaitlyn (O’Neal) and husband Anthony Katko, Maria (Thompson) and husband Jordan Pearce, Emily O’Neal and fiancé Adam Alfonso, Rachel Sturgeon, Allyson Thompson, Joseph Walter, and step-granddaughter Lillian Rademacher. His great-grandchildren Bastian Sorsaburu and Oliver Katko recently joined as the newest generation to come into his life. He is also survived by his younger sister, Penny Zarter, of El Paso, TX.  George was a graduate of Mount Union College in Alliance with a Bachelor’s in Biology.  He was an Army veteran, having joined the Army near the end of the Korean War where he graduated from the US Army Cryptography School and learned Japanese.  He discovered a passion for the stock market starting with a job for the NY Stock Exchange which continued for the remainder of his life.  George lived a large portion of his life near Bloomington, Indiana where he provided for his family by working for various banks in trusts and investments, and also ran a tax and bookkeeping business until he retired early to travel around the country with Kathleen.  He drove their camper to nearly every state with the goal of filling in the map that was stuck on the side of the camper, secondarily to seeing the amazing national parks and incredible places in the US.  In between trips they lived in Lake Wales, Florida and opened their home to any and all who would visit. George was a leader in his church in Solsberry, Indiana, for many years, and continued to maintain a strong faith throughout his life.  He and Kathleen helped start a church in the retirement community where they lived where he was, of course, treasurer.  The last full day of his life closed with Kathleen reading Psalms to him and his daughter Meg singing hymns.  As he started to approach the later part of his life he would often respond to an inquiry of “how are you?” with a quip like “Any day I wake up on the green side of the grass is a good day”!  His father, Dr. George O. Thompson, mother Gwendoline Copeland, brother and sister Bruce and Beverly Thompson precede him in death and are most likely teasing him that this time he woke up and didn’t see green grass but streets of gold in heaven instead!  Services will be held on Tuesday, July 17 at the Tidd Funeral Home, Hilliard OH starting with visitation at 9 a.m., service at 10 a.m. and a burial service at 4 p.m. in the Thompson Cemetery in Bluffton, Ohio.  Yes, he is one of those Thompson’s.  P.S. He was very proud of being an Eagle Scout.