Alan Dean Thompson

1935 - 2018

Alan Dean Thompson, Ph. D., died on Sunday, December 9, 2018, after a long illness. He was born July 20, 1935 in Dublin, Texas, to Cicero T. and Charles Etta Dunlap Thompson. He was brought home to their residence in the Roch Community in Comanche County, Texas. Alan was the youngest in the family of five boys and two girls. The family moved to Rotan in 1937 to pull cotton. In 1938, they moved to Sweetwater where Alan grew up and attended school, graduating from Sweetwater High School in 1953.
Alan was preceded in death by his parents, four brothers: Gerald D. (Jerry), C. T., Jr., B. Gayle, Tommy J., a sister, Mary Etta Wade, as well as a large number of aunts, uncles, and cousins. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Anna Wirth Thompson, his three children and their spouses, Suzann Thompson and Charles D. Frederick, Eric A. and Carolyn Thompson, Van E. and Kathy A. Thompson, and four grandchildren, Eva and Ella Frederick of Comanche County, Texas, and Alanna and Marshall Thompson of Austin, Texas. His sister, Sue Brown of Fort Worth, also survives him. He leaves behind three generations of nieces and nephews on both sides of the family.
After high school graduation, Alan entered Howard Payne College on a football scholarship. Being dissatisfied with this arrangement, he left after one semester, returned to Sweetwater to work, then entered the U. S. Army in November of 1954. After 16 weeks of basic training at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, he was sent to Munich, Germany (50th Field Artillery Battalion) as a part of the German Occupational Forces. In early 1956, Alan was transferred to the 34th Field Artillery Battalion in Schwäbisch-Gmünd, West Germany.
After being honorably discharged from the army in August of 1956, Alan returned to Sweetwater, then on to San Angelo to attend San Angelo College, from which he graduated in 1958. In January 1958, Alan married Anna Wirth of Schwarzenbach/Saale, West Germany and of New York City. In August, 1958, they moved to Austin where Alan enrolled in The University of Texas at Austin and earned a BBA degree in 1960, an M. Ed in 1963, and a Ph. D. in 1972. He was very proud that he, his wife, children, in-laws and so far one grandchild, held 15 UT Austin degrees.
Beginning in 1960, Alan taught two years at Austin's Allan Jr. High, two at Johnston High School, then moved to Plainview as high school assistant principal for two years. In 1966, he became principal of Estacado Junior High in Plainview for two years. In 1968, the Thompsons moved back to Austin where Alan served as dean of boys at McCallum High School for two years.
In 1970, Alan was employed by the UT Austin Division of Extension as an assistant instructor while he finished his Ph. D. Through the next 25 years he had a variety of titles and duties, including director of the Extension Evening Classes program, and in 1995, Alan retired from the Division of Continuing Education as the Division's associate dean. A short time later, Alan and Anna bought his grandfather Thompson's farm, "Thompson Corner," in Comanche County. It has now been in the Thompson family continuously since 1900.
While Alan enjoyed his colleagues, students, and fellow workers, his family was always first and foremost on his list of priorities. He often said that he would never have started school if he had not been forced to start; yet he had many years of schooling and was employed in the field of public education for 35 years.
Alan always enjoyed puns and other plays on words as well as teasing anyone he liked and who was receptive. He always took care not to offend anyone and called himself an equal opportunity teaser. He liked music especially old-fashioned gospel music. He taught himself to play six or seven instruments – in his own way. He liked organizing. He enjoyed building and was competent in carpentry, electrical wiring, plumbing and other building knowledge and skills. He also enjoyed raising cattle, pretty plants, watching the heavens and earth, sunrises and sunsets, being an introvert who could hold his own on life's treadmill, as needed, but he could step off happily into his own private world. May his last sunset and his next sunrise be the best ones ever. Adios and Auf Wiedersehen.
Visitation will be Friday, December 14, 2018, 6-8 p.m. at Harrell Funeral Home in Dublin, Texas. Funeral services will be Saturday, December 15, at 2 p.m. at the Harrell Funeral Home Chapel, with a graveside service following in Hanson Cemetery, off FM 1496 and CR 438 in Comanche County. In lieu of flowers, it is requested that the wildflowers on his grave will be kept uncut until after they have gone to seed. Memorial donations may be made to the Hanson Cemetery Association, or the Comanche Historical Museum.