Elmer N. Thompson

Elmer Norris Thompson, a longtime resident of Lakewood, Colorado, died Saturday, June 12, 2010, at the age of 88 in Colorado Springs. Elmer, whom many affectionately called Tiny for his 6’4” frame, was born Aug. 16, 1921, on a farm north of Hinsdale, Montana, to Theodore Albert Thompson and Inga Hagen Thompson. His parents homesteaded in the northeastern Montana community of Genevieve before moving to Hinsdale, Montana in 1938. One of his memories of life during the Great Depression was taking a raw potato to school on winter days, putting it in a tray of ashes under the fire grate of the school house stove, and then eating the cooked potato for lunch. Elmer graduated from Hinsdale High School in 1938. At the age of 20, he left the family farm after being hired as a clerk typist for the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fort Missoula, Montana, earning $105 a month. With the advent of Pearl Harbor, he was accepted as a Naval Aviation Cadet and received his pilot’s wings on January 4, 1944. Thus began his 23-year love affair with Naval Aviation. During World War II, he primarily flew twin-engine and four-engine seaplanes. He flew many VIP missions in specially-outfitted PB2Y Coronado Flying Boats.

Elmer was aircraft commander for one of the seaplanes that took Admiral Forrest Sherman and his staff from Saipan to Tokyo Bay, Japan for the signing of the Japanese Surrender on September 2, 1945, landing alongside the USS Missouri where the surrender signing took place. Following the War, Elmer made two around- the- world good will tours, the first one flying Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, and the second flying several members of Congress. One of his most memorable moments during his first world tour was hearing Louis Armstrong play his trumpet by chance in the Roman Coliseum. He often recollected that the most fun he had in life was flying for the Navy.

After retiring from the Navy in 1965, he flew 737’s and 727’s for United Airlines, flying the line out of Chicago. He also instructed at the United Airlines Training Center in Denver and was with the company for sixteen and a half years. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Utah with a degree in economics and also graduated from the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.

On March 28, 1953, he married the love of his life, Elizabeth “Bette” Priest. The couple met while he was stationed at Naval Air Station, Barbers Point, Oahu, while she was teaching elementary school there. Although Elmer and his family lived in many places during his Navy career, he recalled that Honolulu in the 1950s and 1960s was the best place he had ever lived because of its unspoiled beaches, climate, and recreation. After hiring on with United Airlines in 1966, he moved his family to Lakewood, Colorado, where he lived for 41 years before settling in a Colorado Springs retirement community in 2007. His wife Bette preceded him in death on December 31, 1990, and Elmer’s only regret was not being able to spend more years with her. In addition to his naval career, he was most proud of being a good husband and father to his children. After his retirement, Elmer took pleasure in reading, figuring out his computer, growing vegetables in the garden of his Lakewood home, and visiting with his many friends and family. As an avid cook, he enjoyed spending time in the kitchen and could roast a mean prime rib and killer smoked ribs. He was the beloved father of three children: Inga, Stephen, and Rebecca.

Elmer is survived by Inga Thompson Light and husband Greg Light, of Aurora, Colorado; Stephen Thompson and wife Sandie Baker Thompson, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Rebecca Thompson Hicks and husband Richard Hicks, of Monument, Colorado. He is also survived by two grandchildren, Aric Light and Melanie Thompson, his sister, Irene Allie, of Glasgow, Montana, as well as extended family and many life-long friends.

A memorial service will be held on July 1, at 11 a.m., at the Liberty Heights Retirement Community, 12105 Ambassador Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Interment will be at the Crown Hill Mortuary in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the VAW/VRC Memorial Scholarship Fund, Post Office Box 15322, Norfolk, Virginia 23511-0322. The fund’s mission is to provide for the higher education of children of Navy families who have lost a parent in a military aviation-related mishap while assigned to a VAW or VRC squadron.

Arrangements under the direction of Swan-Law Funeral Directors, Colorado Springs, CO.