Charlie loved life, loved making people laugh and loved spending time with family and friends. Charles Linfert Thompson, 52 years of age, of Orange County, CA, passed away on December 26, 2023. He was surrounded by his family.
Charlie was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 21, 1971, to Anne Devins and John Thompson. He was the 2nd youngest of his three brothers, Ed, Spike and Bill. His life growing up was not short of adventure as his father’s service in the US Air Force took them many places in the United States and abroad. In his younger years, his father was stationed in RAF Upper Heyford, England, where his family lived for several years. This is where his love of soccer (English football) and his loyalty as a Liverpool fan began. He moved back to the states in the late 1970’s and lived in Shalimar and Destin, Florida, Binghamton, New York, and eventually settled down in Seal Beach, CA. He graduated from Los Alamitos High School in 1989 and went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech from California State University, Long Beach, where he was a member of the fraternal society Sigma Pi.
One of Charlie’s biggest assets was his charm and magnetic personality. He made it a point to make everyone he met feel important, whether in personal or work relationships. Charlie’s family, friends and co-workers can certainly attest to this. Charlie was a “people person” and quickly learned that sales was his forte. He began his career as a sales manager at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and moved on to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. His time as a manager at Auto-Chlor led to a chance meeting with a fire chief, who helped spark his interest in a career in fire safety equipment sales. Charlie worked for Survivair/Honeywell and then moved on to become Regional Sales Manager for Holmatro. He formed so many long-lasting and valuable relationships with his co-workers, dealers and everyone he came in contact with in the fire safety industry. Charlie excelled in his career and his sales performance was related to his drive to always meet the needs of others.
Charlie had a passion for adventure, travel, cooking, golf, watching sports and listening to country music. When Charlie and Sam became “empty nesters”, he bought beach cruisers so they could go down to Huntington and Newport Beach to ride and make an occasional stop at a beach bar and enjoy the sunset. He enjoyed ski trips with family and friends to Utah, Colorado, Mammoth, Tahoe and Big Bear. One of his favorite trips was to France and Italy in 2019 to watch the Women’s World Cup. Even though he traveled often for work, he didn’t hesitate to take any opportunity to travel to see family and celebrate milestones. Thompson Family and Edwards Family reunions included trips to Grand Cayman, Florida, Wyoming, Vancouver, Hawaii, Big Bear, Cape Cod, Vermont, France, Italy and England, just to name a few. He loved meeting up with his golf buddies every few weeks to show off his ability to drive the heck out of the ball. Any chance he got, we would meet up with friends and family to watch and cheer for Liverpool football, Cincinnati Bengals, Boise State Broncos, University of Florida Gators, and the US Women’s and Men’s soccer teams. He also enjoyed watching tennis and golf. Charlie also loved catching up with old friends from high school and college fraternity days. Even though he may not have seen them as much as he wanted to, his friends would say it was like no time had passed and their friendships were as strong as ever.
He claimed that his biggest accomplishment was being a Dad to his children, Emilee and Colin. Charlie was so proud of them and took every moment (whether on a work phone call, neighborhood dog walk or stop in the grocery store) to update everyone he could on their successes. He never missed one of their birthdays, soccer, baseball, and volleyball games or boy scout campouts. His immense love for his family and friends is truly an understatement.
Charlie is survived by his wife, Samantha Thompson and his two children, Emilee and Colin Thompson, his parents, Anne and John Thompson, brothers, Edward and Mary Jo Thompson, Michael and Mary Bess Thompson, William and Jasmine Thompson, nieces and nephews, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth (Thompson) and Sean Hayward, Patrick Thompson, Austin LaRoche, Meghan Thompson, Lindsey LaRoche, Kevin Thompson, Devin Thompson, Jack Thompson, Miller Thompson, Keely McMahon, Erin McMahon, Vincent Edwards and great nephew, Johnny Thompson, in-laws, Joyce and Roderick Edwards, sister-in-law, Eileen and Johnny McMahon, Aunts, Ann White, Ruth Bressler, Linda Devins, Barbara Matthews and Christine Edwards, Uncles, Jack Devins, Ken Bressler, Jerry White and David Edwards. He is also survived by his favorite yellow labrador retriever, Finn and many, many dear friends and neighbors.
Funeral services will be held on January 26, 2024 at 10am at St. Juliana Falconieri Catholic Church in Fullerton, CA followed by a Celebration of Life.
In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation to the PADRE Foundation (Pediatric-Adolescent Diabetes Research Education) at padrefoundation.org
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