John Will Thompson

John Will Thompson, 94, Kingsport, passed away on Saturday May 30, 2009 at Baysmont surrounded by his family.

Born on May 24, 1915, in Scottsboro, Alabama, to the late John K. and Resa Thompson, he spent his entire childhood and youth in northeast Alabama. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1938 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. For the next few years, he worked as a chemist at Southern Kraft Paper Company in Moss Point, MS, where he met his future bride, Carrie Virginia Eley.

Drafted in 1941, he served in Hawaii, Guadalcanal, New Guinea, and the Philippines. He was assigned to the U.S. Army's 886th Chemical Company Air Operations and ultimately assumed command of that unit. In 1945, he returned to Moss Point, married his beloved Jenny, and retired from active duty with the U.S. Army as a Major in early 1946. Kingsport became home that year and he spent the next thirty-four years as a research chemist at Tennessee Eastman Company where he obtained twenty-five patents, doing much work on jet engine oils and preservatives for edible foods.

John was a lifelong Presbyterian and served as a deacon and an elder at Waverly Road Church, which he joined in 1946 soon after it was established. He and Jenny had three children and enjoyed a full life together for fifty-six years until her death in 2001. He always said his marriage to her was "the best decision I ever made." John had many passions, but chief among them were golf and hiking. He shot two holes in one at the age of seventy and was still playing nine holes a day, three days a week into his early 90's. In 1967, John decided to tackle the 2150 mile Appalachian Trail, which he finished after his retirement from Eastman in 1980. He was the first retiree to do so and was joined by other members of the company's hiking club for the last leg of the trek. Until the age of 92, he continued to volunteer on the Trail. Highly active in other ways as well, he volunteered in Boy Scouting in his early years; he served Meals on Wheels into his late eighties, did extensive genealogical research on his family, and was an avid reader and writer.

Survivors include his daughter, Nancy Beane and husband, John, of Atlanta, GA, son, Robert Thompson and wife, Melanie Thornton, of Tonasket, WA, and Sarah Patrick, of Kingsport; and five wonderful grandchildren, whom he loved deeply, are Kathryn Beane, Caleb Thompson, Amelia Thornton, Carrie Patrick and her fiance, Sergei Prokhnevskiy, and Hailey Patrick. He is also survived by his brother, Jim Thompson and wife, Hazel; his sister, Virginia Hegland. In addition, he has numerous nieces and nephews to whom he was very close.

The family will receive friends Tuesday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Hamlett-Dobson in Kingsport or any time at the Thompson home.

Services will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday at the Waverly Road Presbyterian Church with Rev. Dan Clark officiating. Burial will follow at Oak Hill Memorial Park.

Honorary pallbearers will be John I. Cox, Jr., Roy Poe, Carl Bockman, Dave Petke, Keene White, Zellie Earnest, Carl Matherly, Jack Boyles, and Darrell Nickels.

The family requests memorial contributions may be given to Waverly Road Presbyterian Church, 1415 Waverly Road, Kingsport, TN 37664 or to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 799 Washington Street, P.O. Box 807, Harpers Ferry, WV, 25425, or Amedisys Hospice of Kingsport, 200 Professional Park Drive, Kingsport, TN 37663.

The family would like to express "tremendous appreciation and thanks to Sarah and her family for their constant love and support since they have been in Kingsport with Dad, Dr. Ronald Hunter, the wonderful nurses and caregivers at Steadman Hill where he spent the last year-and-a-half, and Rev. Dan Clark and members of Waverly Road Church. The nurses and caregivers at Baysmont and the incredible folks at Hospice were also absolutely wonderful those last few days."