(picture) (veteran)

Services for Bernard “Bernie” John Thompson, 79 of Blair who died Aug. 31, 1996 at Memorial Community Hospital in Blair were Tuesday, Sept. 3 at St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church. Burial was in Holy Cross Cemetery in Blair.

Bernard “Bernie” John Thompson, the youngest of 10 children was born Dec. 23, 1916 on his parents farm three miles northwest of Blair. His parents, Michael and Lilly Boston Thompson were early settlers of Blair.

He attended Cuming City School. As a young man, he worked for the Corps of Engineers weaving willow mats and putting them on the banks of the Missouri River to protect the river banks from soil erosion. He also worked on the roads when they were paving Highway 30 and he tried his hand at farming.

He served in the Third Armored Division Tank Battalion as a tank mechanic from 1941 to 1945. He was transferred to the Air Force Base at Roswell, New Mexico, where he was discharged.

He was superintendent for Intrusion Prepaht Company, a concrete pumping firm based in Cleveland and worked in almost every state repairing bridges, dams and buildings and pumping in place piling for footings for new bridges. He then became superintendent for Fergusen-Smith, building missile sites throughout eastern Nebraska. When that company moved, he became maintenance supervisor at Crowell Memorial Home in 1962 and retired from there in 1984.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Joe, Paul, Peter and Albert; and sisters, Carrie Hineline, Bertha Kruse, Elsie Bunch and Mary Burns.

He is survived by his wife, Phyllis; sons and daughters-in-law, James and Tammy Peterson Thompson, Penliney, Mich.; Mark and Linda Hansen Thompson of Indianapolis, Ind.; Mike and Marilyn Conrad Thompson of McKinney, Tex.; and Bryan and Lynn Beenblossom of Sonora, Calif.; a daughter and son-in-law, Nancy and Dr. Stanley Engelhardt of West Bloomfield, Mich.; a sister and brother-in-law, Madge Thompson and Tommy Whitney of Omaha; 16 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

Casket bearers were grandsons, Cody Engdahl, B. J. Thompson, Beau Thompson, Chris Thompson, Tony Thompson, James Thompson, Brandon Thompson, and Tyler Thompson. Altar servers were his twin granddaughters, Natasha Trever and Magdalena Trever.

Campbell-Aman Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

FindaGrave # 130563339