James Walter Thompson

James Walter Thompson (Spike), 55, passed away peacefully at his home on October 27, 2023, surrounded by his family. Visitation will be held from 4:00pm until 8:00pm, Wednesday, November 1, 2023, at Baldwin Lee Funeral Home in Pearl. Funeral services will be held at 10:00am, Thursday, November 2, 2023, McLaurin Heights Baptist Church in Pearl with burial to follow at Floral Hills Memory Gardens.

James started his career in law enforcement in 1988 as a dispatcher for Pearl Police Department. In 1989, he began working at Brandon Police Department and graduated from Jackson Police Department Officer’s Training Academy in 1990. Once completing the police academy, he soon returned to the city where his heart always belonged and in 1990 began working as a police officer at Pearl Police Department. In 1993, he left the city for a short amount of time and worked at Gulfport Police Department where he made many lifelong friendships. He returned to Pearl Police Department in 1995 and continued his passion for working with the youth as Lieutenant of the Juvenile Division. Once he left the duties of working as a sworn police officer in 2015, he continued his journey with Mississippi Department of Education and then ended his career in 2023 working for Madison County Schools as District Safety Coordinator. Due to his love for the City of Pearl, he ran for and was elected as City of Pearl Alderman for District 5 from 2017 until 2023, when he made the difficult decision to step down as Alderman due to his battle with cancer and then began his long overdue retirement.

James dedicated his life to helping others. His accomplishments are too many to list, but many people can attest to the impact he had on their lives. It was not uncommon for someone to stop him while out in public thanking him for the influence and impact he had on their child. He took great pride in working with the youth and he truly loved his career. He served as Alderman for almost 2 full terms and he worked tirelessly for District 5 making a huge impact in a short amount of time. He made many friends along the path of his career and would never hesitate to help anyone he could along the way. James was the true definition of a person with a servant’s heart and his absence will be felt by many. He loved his family deeply and his passing will be a great loss to all of them.

James was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, J.E. (Jack) and Rachel Stuart and his mother, Jackie J. Bush. He is survived by his wife Kim Thompson; his daughter Morgan (Guy) Thomas; his father Jimmy Thompson; his sister Tammy (Draten) Hanna; along with two sisters-in-law, another brother-in-law, and multiple cousins, nieces, and nephews.

The family would like to send heartfelt thanks to the all the medical staff at Jackson Oncology and Baptist Hospital for the amazing care he received during his one-year battle with colon and liver cancer.