Joel Luther Thompson MD

Joel Luther Thompson M.D.

Was born in north Minneapolis on April 12, 1947. He was the fifth child of his family of eventual eight children of Reverend Alexander and Ruth Thompson.

He met his future wife, Patricia Cowgill, in the Moorhead state choir. He was a bass and she was a soprano. From that led a lifetime of music. He was in Alpha Omega Alpha honor society at the University of Minnesota medical school. He was a doctor in Family Medicine. He was also board certified in ER Medicine and worked ERs in Grantsburg, Wisconsin and Two Harbors MN .

He was a beloved doctor in Minneapolis for over 45 years. In 2015 a catastrophic aneurysm forced his retirement from daily practice. He still gave advice and periodically helped out a family member with small issues of medicine.

Besides his wife, his great love was his children, grandchildren and the north shore of Lake Superior. Jesus and family were the cornerstones of Dr. Thompson's life along with making up words playing scrabble.

Additionally, Dr Thompson was Sami. He was very proud of his Norwegian heritage and found it fascinating to learn- 30 years ago- that he was of the indigenous reindeer herders. His family recently was making plans for him to visit his homeland.

To quote his niece, he was "a legend". His brother in law called him "biblical in scope."

He died on Christmas morning peacefully in his sleep, listening to hymns, with his wife and daughter nearby, outliving the aneurysms that were through his body. He was preceded in death not just by his parents but by his dear siblings Edyth, Rachel, Peter and Phillip. He is also preceded in death by his nephew Mark Thomas Cowgill. He spent Christmas Eve surrounded by his family singing carols.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Patricia Anne, his three children, Angela (Abe), Rebeccah and Christopher (Sara) and seven grandchildren (Lukas, Eloise, Katherine, Patrick, Astrid, Frances and Elias) and three siblings: Dr. Michael Thompson , Paul Thompson and Naomi Carlon. He also is survived by his wife's siblings who were so close to him: Thomas (Sandra) Cowgill, Kathryn (David) Dangler, Robert (Nancy) Cowgill and Margaret (Steven) Lambert. The last of whom were so close to Dr Thompson that they lived next door to each other for the last 20 years.

Hallelujah he is home with his Lord.