Rev. Joseph Allen Tinley Thompson

The Rev. Joseph Allen Tinley Thompson died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, at a Topeka nursing home from injuries he suffered in a November automobile accident. He was 97. Joe was born in Atlantic City N.J., the son of William Elijah and Fannie Ester Thompson. He traveled to Topeka with his parents when he was 6-weeks-old and grew up on the family farm with his parents and five siblings in the Highland Park area. Joe was named for his paternal grandfather who was born a slave, escaped and later served in the Union Army during the Civil War. As a boy Joe joined the Boy Scouts of America when scouting was only eight-years-old. He was denied membership in the local white troop and became a lone Scout, earning awards on his own without the support of a Scout troop. Joe earned the Eagle Scout rank and he served as a Scoutmaster for 10 years. He was a member of the Jayhawk Area Council board at the time of his death, and may hold the record for the longest actively reg istered person in the Boy Scouts of America. After graduating from high school, Joe worked for the Post Office until he was injured in a motorcycle accident. He then served eight years as Shawnee County s first African-American probation officer. He enlisted in the Army during World War II at the age of 35 and served for 34 months with the Buffalo Soldiers. After the war, Joe used the GI Bill to earn a degree in sociology from Washburn College. He worked toward a master s degree in social work at the University of Chicago. Rev. Thompson worked as a psychiatric social worker at the Menninger Foundation and spent 26 years as a social worker at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. Joe s wife, Tracy Thompson, died of cancer in 1958. Joe helped to deal with his grief by volunteering with the American Cancer Society, where he has served for more than 40 years as a director and by driving patients to medical appointments. He also has served the Red Cross for almost 80 years as a first aid instructor, instructor trainer and trainer evaluator. As a boy, Joe was active with his family at St. Simon s mission, first as a choir member and acolyte and later as a lay reader when a priest was not available on Sunday morning from Grace Cathedral. He studied for the deaconate and was ordained an Episcopal Deacon in 1956, when he was assigned as Vicar at St. Simon s. When St. Simon s was merged into Grace Cathedral Joe became a deacon at the Cathedral, where he was serving at the time of his death. He was the senior deacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. Joe has received numerous awards and honors over the years. The Boy Scouts have honored him as a distinguished citizen, and presented him the Silver Beaver, St. George and Whitney Young Jr. awards. He was presented the JC Penney Golden Rule Award in 1999. The Red Cross honored Joe as Volunteer of the Year. The cancer society made him a lifetime director and Washburn University gave him its Distinguished Alumni Awa rd. He was made a Canon at Grace Cathedral. Upon recommendation of Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, President George Bush Sr. named Joe Thompson his 835th Point of Light. He is survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Joe willed his body to The University of Kansas School of Medicine. Memorial services are pending at Grace Episcopal Cathedral.