Gordon Thompson

1927 - 2011

Gordon Thompson passed away Dec. 15, from a massive stroke, surrounded by his wife, Erma, and his minister and wife, Bruce and Julie White.

Gordon was born in Eugene, Oregon on July 11, 1927. He attended Santa Clara Grade school and was sad when it was torn down. He drove to Junction City for High School so he could be in the FFA and was a guard on the basketball team, graduating in 1945. He planned to be a farmer like his father and had worked on the Thompson farm until he left for San Jose Bible College in San Jose, CA. His minister, Gene Shelly, told him that, "even farmers needed to know the Bible." At college his plans for his life were changed and he decided to "sow seeds" for God.

Vivian Pollock, Eugene, was also a student at SJBC, and on June 7, 1948, they were married in the Santa Clara Church of Christ. Gordon graduated from San Jose in 1949 and they began their life together on the Mission fields at Colegio Biblico on the border of Texas at Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico. Gordon was a professor there for five years before they felt called to go to Puerto Rico in 1954 and moved to San Juan, PR, with their 2 little girls, Kathleen & Judy.

The Thompsons were pioneers in the work of the Churches of Christ on the island. In the twenty years they lived there they started the Caparra Terrace Church (which still exists today) and an English speaking Christian Day School in 1958. Gordon was the director and Vivian was the principal. Teachers were recruited from the states and raised their own support before coming. Kathleen and Judy grew up there attending school and Kathleen finished college in PR. Judy came to the states for her college. When the Thompsons returned home to Eugene for health reasons in 1974 after 20 years, the school had its own property and building free of debt, and a student body of over 300 children.

In December of 2008, the School brought Gordon back to honor him at their Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration as the Founder of the Christian Day School. The current Governor of Puerto Rico is a graduate of the School.

After two years back in Oregon taking care of their health issues, God called them to the Dominican Republic where they would labor for the next fourteen years until Vivian's health failed and they had to come home to Eugene. While in the Dominican Republic, they put thousands of New Testaments in the schools which the government allowed and through that effort had many converts and young men that were taught by Gordon to become preachers and several churches were started and still continue in the mountain areas of the island. They also held medical clinics for people in isolated areas. Gordon commuted once a month for a year after they came home in 1990 to help transition their work to Doug and Carol Reed. In 2002 one of their supporting churches in Santa Cruz, CA honored Gordon for his fifty years of Missionary Service.

Gordon continued to be active in Mission work here in Oregon. He served on the Board of Oregon Latin American Evangelism for many years and preached from time to time in Hispanic Churches. He also spent a few years visiting and participating in the University Christian Campus Ministry directed by Dick Beswick.

His wife, Vivian, preceded him in death in 2002, as did his daughter, Kathleen Hernandez, in 2001. He is survived by his present wife, Erma Smith Thompson, and his daughter, Judy Murillo, of Santa Cruz, CA; and grandsons: Raphael Murillo and Tony and Danny Hernandez, of New Jersey; and many nieces and nephews.

Gordon was a devoted servant of God and served him faithfully on the mission fields. He was a wonderful, caring and loving husband and he and Erma lived life to the fullest every day in spite of the knowledge that he was living with a very large brain aneurysm for over three years. He had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to tell corny jokes. He was a mentor, teacher, and preacher and loved by so many. He will be missed.

His Celebration of Life Service will be at Garden Way Church, Sunday, January 8, at 2:30 p.m. Remembrances may be made to Garden Way Church Missions.

Please sign the guest book at www.registerguard.com/legacy