John A. THOMPSON, 91, of John Mowry Road died Monday, February 10, 2014 at RI Hospital. He was the husband of Suzanne Ziegelmayer Thompson.
Mr. Thompson was born in Elmwood, Illinois, the fourth son of George S. Thompson and Bertha Luella (Graham) Thompson. He grew up on his father’s farm with his three brothers Paul D., Sidney F. and Gordon E. Thompson. John attended Lehigh District #27 elementary school, a one room school house that his father helped establish. Later, he attended Elmwood Community High School and then University of Illinois at Urbana.
John married Jean Buckner in 1945. He served in WWII as a Forward Observer for the field artillery under General Patton. When he returned home they started a family and had four children, John Jr. (Drew), Annice, Lisa and Mary. After the war he attended Harvard Business School under the GI bill. The family moved to Houston, where he managed several Ford dealerships.
John and Jean divorced in 1960 and John remarried Linnea White in 1963. He became step-father to Sam and Steve, Lynn’s young sons. The family lived in Warwick. In 1965 John embarked on his career as a financial planner - something he continued with great success until he passed away. He won many Top Salesman awards over the years.
Linnea died in 2000, a huge blow to John. Happily, he found love again with Suzanne Ziegelmayer, who he married in September 2001. He started over and found great happiness with Suzanne and his grandchildren Whelan and Ray, who he saw almost every day.
John is survived by his wife, Suzanne Ziegelmayer Thompson, his children, John A. (Drew) Thompson, Jr., Mary Jones, Annice Okos and Lisa Sullivan; stepchildren, Kim Ziegelmayer and Steven White and son-in-law Kevin Porter; grandchildren are Whelan Ziegelmayer, Ray Porter, Ashleigh Nowicki, Whitney Thompson, Peter Sullivan, Julia Sullivan, Jackie Sullivan and Cali Sullivan, Steve White and Susie White, Michael White, Christopher White and David White; great grandchild, George Nowicki; and brother Gordon Thompson.
Funeral service will be Saturday, February 15 at 9:30 a.m. in St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 389 Greenwich Avenue, Warwick, RI. Burial will follow in St. Paul’s Cemetery.
Visitation Friday 4-7pm in the ANDERSON-WINFIELD Funeral Home, Route 44 at Greenville Common, Greenville, RI. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to Save the Children, 54 Wilton Road, Westport, CT 06880. Save the Children