PALOUSE Ted Thompson, 58, a retired Washington State University physical plant employee, died Tuesday of cancer at his rural home at Palouse, Wash. He was 58.
He worked for WSU for 26 years, retiring in 1985 as paint shop supervisor at the physical plant.
He was born Dec. 5, 1931, at Palouse to John W. and Elizabeth Boller Thompson. He graduated in 1949 from Palouse High School.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1954 during the Korean War. He was discharged as a chief petty officer second class.
He returned to Palouse in 1954 and worked at Palouse Ammonia for several years and then at Palouse Grange Supply. He went to work for WSU in 1959 as a groundskeeper.
He married Betty Passig at Seattle Nov. 29, 1951.
Thompson was a member of the Potlatch Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Moscow Elks Club, the Pullman Gun Club and the American Angus Association. He was committed to youth programs and worked with the Future Farmers of America and 4-H clubs at the Palouse Empire Fair at Colfax as beef superintendent. He also served as beef superintendent at Angus shows throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
He enjoyed gardening and the outdoors and was an avid hunter and fisherman. He loved trap shooting and working with animals.
He is survived by his wife at the family home at Palouse; a son, Tom Thompson of Pullman; two daughters, Billie M. Johnstone of Ewan, Wash., and Joanne Thompson of Spokane; his mother, Elizabeth Thompson of Palouse; a sister, Eva Jensen of Palouse; four brothers, G.D. (Bud) Thompson and Fred Thompson, both of Palouse, Wilbur Thompson of Viola, Idaho, and Bill Thompson of Waitsburg, Wash., and one grandson.
His father and two brothers, Dale Thompson and Lyle Thompson, died previously.
The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday (Dec. 22)at the Palouse Abundant Life Fellowship Church at Palouse. The Rev. Robert Sherwood of the Ewan Church of the Nazarene at Ewan will officiate.
Burial will follow at the Pitt Cemetery south of Palouse.
The family suggests memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society or to the Ted Thompson FFA Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of U.S. Bank at Palouse.
Kramer Funeral Home at Palouse is in charge of arrangements.
