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James F. Thompson, "Jim" to most, "Jimmy" to a few, and "Papa" to five grandchildren, died peacefully at home with his wife, Mary Jane, at his side. "I'll just never understand how I got so lucky having Mary as my wife," he would often say of his bride of 70 years.
Born in Chicago, on July 27, 1931, and fourth of eight children of Maurice and Blanche Thompson of Calumet, Oklahoma, where he grew up.
Jim was preceded in death by his seven siblings: Maurice (Buddy), Helen, Mary Jane, David, Kent Lee, John, and Richard. He is survived by his wife, Mary Jane Thompson, sons, David (and his wife Ann Thompson), Joe (and his partner Jodi Joseph), grandchildren, Trainer, Gus, Isabel, Henry and Phoebe, and many nieces and nephews. His love of family was unending.
Upon graduating as valedictorian from Calumet High School in 1948, Jim attended Oklahoma City University, studying accounting and playing basketball for the OCU Chiefs, traveling nationally and winning often, including 1952 and 1953 NCAA playoff berths. Thompson retained his deadly accurate 16-foot set shot throughout his life, as well as his joy of spirited competition, something he carried into his lifelong banking career.
Thompson's 60-year tenure as an Oklahoma and Kansas banker began working for his father in the family-owned First National Bank of Calumet. He then served as President of the Alva State Bank and Trust Company in Alva, Oklahoma, followed by a 20-year tenure as president and CEO of Peoples National Bank in Liberal, Kansas, during which he more than tripled the bank in size and profitability. Jim was a highly respected businessman, civic leader, and a valued community member who loved to support growing businesses. He was honored to receive many awards and appointments to public service boards, including leadership roles at the Oklahoma State Banker's Association and Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. He was a founding board member and chief executor of the Seward County Helium Litigation Scholarship Fund, which awarded hundreds of higher education grants to promising young scholars from southwestern Kansas. Jim took special pride in the success of the farmers, ranchers, and store owners who were his cherished banking customers, many of whom became lifelong friends. Aviation was an enduring passion, and he was a founder and longtime board member of the Mid-America Air Museum.
Thompson was a six-year U.S. Navy veteran; during active duty he and his newlywed bride Mary Jane were stationed in Suffolk, Virginia. After settling for extended periods in Alva, Oklahoma, and then Liberal, Kansas, Jim and Mary Jane built an active family and work life and traveled widely, often in their Grumman Tiger airplane, which Jim piloted "stick and rudder" to points all across the country.
Jim and Mary Jane retired to Norman, Oklahoma, in 1994, where they established a thriving community of friends and neighbors, as pioneer residents of the River Chase neighborhood. From Norman, they maintained close ties with the extended Thompson clan, with whom they gathered frequently. Much of their retirement logistics involved doting on grandkids, visiting them often in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, and Houston, Texas.
Thompson was a lifelong Democrat, "No! Not just a Democrat, a Rooster-stamping Democrat," he liked to say. Conservative in fiscal and business matters, but liberal in social outlook, Jim was known for his deep commitment to community service through conventional channels such as church and civic groups, but also personally, reaching out directly to help individual families in need, quietly, one-to-one. Jim was beloved for his hospitality, his love of a great dance party (Jitterbugging was his preferred stomp), his good humor and animated, deeply funny storytelling, and also for his reflexive generosity of spirit, polite manner, and instinctive kindness.
Jim loved to entertain, side-by-side, with Mary Jane. It was not unusual for Jim and Mary to invite their sons' entire baseball league, families in tow, to a post-tournament feast, having filled a 300-gallon horse trough with ice, water, and dozens of his favorite Black Diamond watermelons. Or to invite all his friends and customers for a post-New Year's Eve "recovery party," serving breakfast (and trademark 'Fishhouse' punch) to half the town from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. on New Year's Day, "just to start things off right." He was famously impossible to beat when it came time to settle a restaurant tab: "The ticket is mine," he would insist, peering over his glasses and ending all discussion.
The family will host a memorial and celebration of Jim's life, to be scheduled at a later date. Donations in Jim's honor should be made to the social service agency of your choice.
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