Thompson, Claude M., Jr. (1915-2012)

THOMPSON, BROWN, POTEE, SAWYER, PINNOW, HARTWELL, WELCH, KEEFER, OSSENFORT, FLOHR, PATTEN, WALKER, GRAFF

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 12/26/2012 at 00:30:48

Claude M. Thompson, Jr.
May 20, 1915 - November 18, 2012

Wilmington, North Carolina

Claude M. Thompson, Jr., age 97, of Storm Lake, Iowa, died Sunday, November 18, 2012, in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Claude M. Thompson, Jr., began his life in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 20, 1915. It ended peacefully on November 18, 2012, in Wilmington, North Carolina. His two daughters, Sandra Dee Brown and Susan Ann Potee, his grandson, Jeff Brown, and his son-in- law, Duane Brown, were with him when he switched from Eastern Standard Time to Kairos time. Claude was predeceased by his father, Claude M. Thompson, Sr., his mother, Sylvia Sawyer, who passed away when he was two years of age, his grandparents, Jesse and Alma Thompson, who cared for him after his mother’s death, his brother, Luther, and his sister, Alma.

Claude graduated from South High School in Omaha in May, 1933. He excelled in several sports, particularly football. He was named to the all-state team and was offered a scholarship to play football for the University of Nebraska, but family circumstances kept him from accepting it. He attended Boyles Business School after graduating from high school and worked for his father in Sioux City, Iowa, until 1938. That same year, he married his high school sweetheart, Alma Pinnow.

Until 1946, Claude worked for the Railway Express. He, subsequently, purchased a half interest in the Kennedy and Coleson Moving and Storage Firm, renaming it the Kennedy and Thompson Moving and Storage Firm. The business became the Thompson and Laird North American Moving Company when his life-long friend and co-footballer at South High joined the business. In 1967, Claude left the moving business and sold insurance for Northwestern Mutual Life from 1970 to 1978 when he retired.

Claude spent his adult life working and serving the community in various roles including as a member of the Storm Lake City Council, as a deacon and trustee of the Lakeside Presbyterian Church, and as a member of the Methodist Manor Board. He very much enjoyed fishing, golfing, traveling, and playing cards with friends, with Alma, and later with his second wife, Verjean Hartwell. He also cherished his children, Sandra, Sue, and Stan Hartwell, and Jan Welch as well as his grandchildren, Jeff Brown, Tamara Keefer, Cari Ossenfort, Dan Flohr, Chet Hartwell, Jamay Patten, Cassandra Brown, Kindra Walker, Sarah Graff, and Matthew and Katherine Welch.

Funeral Service: 1:00 p.m., November 21, 2012, at the Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Interment: November 21, 2012, at Buena Vista Memorial Park Cemetery in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Copyright © 2012, Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Homes

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