John Lewell Thompson

1945 - 2025

John Lewell Thompson
07/20/1945 - 11/01/2025
John Lewell Thompson, a longtime Houston resident, known to many as JT, passed away peacefully at the age of 80 on November 1, 2025 with his two daughters Tanner and Carrie by his side. A true people person and born caretaker, John lived his life in service to others-never too busy to help friends, neighbors, or strangers. Steadfast, kind, and dependable, John was the rock of his family-a devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. He was easygoing and had a great sense of humor, and was keenly interested in the lives and stories of others.
John was born on July 20,1945 in Watertown, New York and moved to Aruba where his father became school administrator for Lago Oil & Transport Co. Aruba is where he met Trish when they were both six years old. Trish's mother Beth revealed many years later that Trish said after their first meeting, "That's the boy I'm going to marry." John and Trish were a childhood couple by third grade, were later prom king and queen, and then married in Aruba in 1969.
John graduated as valedictorian from Lago High School in 1963. He went on to attend Haverford College and then Indiana University for his business degree. John and Trish lived in Cincinnati where John worked for Kroger Co. To really learn the business, John worked for several nights side by side with other stockers restocking a local Kroger store. He has loved grocery stores ever since and always loved finding a bargain.
In 1974, Houston developer John Hansen invited John to join him as a trusted partner to build projects such as Riverway and Inn on the Park, where he learned the skills he used later in life to design and build his home in Southampton and multiple Harley Davidson dealerships through out the greater Houston area. John and Trish moved to Houston where both of their daughters were born and where John and Trish lived until they passed.
In 1983 he partnered with Johnny Mancuso to open a Harley Davidson dealership that grew to seven stores over the course of almost forty years. Mancuso Harley-Davidson was one of the top 20 dealers in the country which led to Harley trips around the world, feeding his love of travel. Later he would sell more than Harleys, expanding into other brands and power sport vehicles like Yamaha, Polaris Power, Kawasaki and Sea Doo, eventually becoming Team Mancuso Power Sports. John loved talking to every customer who walked in and strived to make everyone feel welcome. John sold the dealerships three years before his passing.
John loved Southampton, its residents and its history. He knew something if not everything about most of the homes in the neighborhood. John served as President of the Southampton Civic Club for 12 years, served as Chair of Southampton's Plan Review Committee for more than a decade, and remained a member of the committee until his passing. He was also co-founder of the Southampton/BOCA Patrol Service in 1985. A live oak tree accompanied by a commemorative plaque was planted at Fleming Park in 2021 in recognition of his decades of contributions to Southampton Place and the Civic Club.
There were three things that were part of John's whole life - his gregarious nature, his love of American cars and his love and partnership with Trish his wife of almost 53 years. His parents said that he could talk to anyone about anything at any time. He was a born storyteller and could connect with everyone. As a 5 year old, he would play with the toy cars his parents gave him and later in his life he could tell you the make and model of any American car just by looking at it. His love of cars led him to build a five car garage attached to his house to store the cars that he loved.
Most importantly, John was dad. Throughout his business successes and community involvement, he was always there for Tanner and Carrie and Trish. From early morning weekend trips to get donuts to listening to his 8-track tapes in the 1980s to Sunday breakfasts with endless "Dad's famous waffles" to countless nights around the dinner table laughing and telling stories. John would laugh so hard he would cry trying to read the Darwin Awards aloud.
He was married to Trish for 52 years and it is important to recognize that for 39 of those years he faithfully supported her while she bravely faced cancer and Parkinson's until her death in 2022. A true love story. He set the most beautiful example of what a father and husband should be for Tanner and Carrie.
His family and friends will remember the cats he fed and cared for that lived at the dealership, the large and welcoming Thanksgiving meals at Bolsover, his ability to do complicated math with just a pen and paper, and how later in life he referred to himself as a digitally impaired elder.
John is preceeded in death by his beloved Trish and his parents Dean and Doris Thompson. He is survived by his daughters Tanner Page and husband Greg and grandaughters Peyton and Anna and Carrie Parker and husband Rob and grandchildren Rosemary and Dallas. He is also survived by his older sister Mary Margaret Hansen and her daughters Caroline, Jeanne and Mary and their families, and his younger sister Kate Maher and husband Denny and their children Christopher and Laura and their families. He is also survived by Trish's siblings Kay Southard, Helen Hendrickson, and Gordon Hendrickson and their families.