Jean Longstaff Thompson

1930 - 2022

Thompson, Jean Longstaff

November 12, 1930 - December 7, 2022

Jean Longstaff Thompson died on December 7, 2022, at Arbor Acres United Methodist Retirement Community in Winston-Salem, NC. The daughter of John Bailey Longstaff and Vera Owen Longstaff, she was born in Washington, D.C., on November 12, 1930. Her father was a Naval officer and later a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts; her mother was an artist. During her childhood she lived all over the world, spending time in Annapolis, MD; Honolulu, HI; Washington, D.C.; Portsmouth, NH; Bermuda, Panama and New Orleans, LA. Her family moved to Amherst in 1948 and she settled there and made it her home.

She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1952 with a sociology major and completed a graduate certificate of business administration at The Radcliff Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Following graduation, she worked for six years in human resources at Arthur D. Little, Inc. in Cambridge, MA.

On October 1, 1960, she married Perry Allen Thompson and moved to Amherst, MA. She loved Amherst and proudly served her community. While in Amherst, she was a Town Meeting board member; an Amherst Board of Assessors member and served on the Historical Commission where she chaired the effort to raise money for the Amherst Community History Mural at West Cemetery. She also volunteered as a docent at the Emily Dickinson Museum. She proudly served on the board of A Better Chance, was president of the board of the Helen Mitchell Family Outreach Program (now Amherst Family Outreach) and was clerk and moderator of the First Congregational Church, UCC of Amherst.

During her professional career, she served as associated editor of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly and received the Alumnae Medal of Honor. She was vice president of Blair, Cutting and Smith Insurance and the alumni director at Stoneleigh Burnham School in Greenfield, MA.

She loved to travel all over the world and share those experiences at the Amherst Travelers Club. She also greatly enjoyed spending time with family and friends on Nantucket and Cape Cod.

She moved to Winston-Salem, NC, in 2016 and was able to spend time with family nearby. She also enjoyed the company of her friend Sebastian "C" Sommer during her years at Arbor Acres.

She is survived by her son, John of Morristown, NJ, his wife, Julie, and their children, Mackenzie and Jack; her son, David of Winston-Salem, NC, his wife, Katie, and their children, Molly and Annie; her stepdaughter, Jane Cole of Medford, NJ, and her children, Jeffrey Cole (Stacy), Jennifer Jefferis (Tim) and Chris Cole (Kelly); and eight great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Perry, after 48 years of marriage; her brother, John B. Longstaff, Jr.; and her son-in-law, Doug Cole.

A private burial will be held at Wildwood Cemetery in Amherst, MA.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Amherst Family Outreach, 401 Main Street, Amherst, MA 01002.

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