Donald Wayne Thompson
Don, age 84, passed away on July 30, 2022, in Ventura, CA. He was born on August 24, 1937, in Stonewall, OK where he lived as a young boy with his parents, Lee and Mable Thompson. They moved to CA, residing in Santa Paula, where he graduated Santa Paula Union High School in1956. Shortly after, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Japan at Shiro Air Force Base, assigned to the Security Service Electronics Countermeasures division. Honorably discharged in 1958, he returned to California to care for his mother and younger brother. Don started his commercial diving career in 1967, working off Gaviota, CA with a small diving company that would become Oceaneering International, a leader today in deep water technology. He continued diving and later in administration with Oceaneering until 1983, working in offshore oil fields in Nicaragua, the Gulf of Mexico, Indonesia, the Middle East, and the North Sea. After retiring from diving, he started his own business as Anacapa Dental Supply & Repair Co., which he operated until 2016. Don had a love for history, hot-rods, diving, fishing, and cooking. He was a man of many talents and loved to learn new things. Don was preceded in death by his brother Joe Thompson and his son and daughter-in-law Michael and Carolina Thompson. He is survived by wife, Marcia Thompson of 25 years, his children, Mark (Marsha) Thompson, Anne (Adam) Rakunas, grandchildren Cameron Thompson and Grace Rakunas. His stepchildren, Wendy Pegram, Amy Woodall, and step grandchildren, Justin (Nicole) Pegram, Joni (Dusty) Klink, and great-granddaughter Juniper Klink. Services will be held August 27, 2022, at Our Lady of Assumption in Ventura, CA at 11:00am. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Don’s name to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum at https://sbmm.org/. Arrangements are under the direction of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, Ventura.