Jerry Lynn Thompson

Jerry Lynn Thompson, aged 80, died peacefully in his sleep on January 24th, 2018. Jerry was born on October 5th, 1937 in Wichita Falls, Texas to Lola Gladys Vaught and Roy Parker Thompson. He attended Wichita Falls High School, excelling in track. During this time, Jerry was also involved with the Boy Scouts of America and achieved its highest rank of Eagle Scout. He attended college at Texas Tech University, where he was president of the math fraternity Kappa Mu Epsilon. He graduated in 1960 with Bachelor of Science Degrees in Chemical Engineering and Accounting. Jerry went on to obtain an MBA from the University of Houston. His first job out of college was with Dow Chemical. After moving to Dallas, he worked at Glitsch, Inc., initially as a Chemical Engineer, but eventually moving into management. He was a talented manager who was able to maximize profit and production at plants in Wichita, Kansas and Monterrey Mexico. Jerry remarried in 1973 to Nancy Lee Callaway. He took his family with him to Monterrey where they lived an adventurous life from 1976 to 1979, traveling all over the country. During the early 70s, Jerry began officiating football games with the Southwest Football Officials Association. He was well known in Mexico as the referee with distinctive silver hair. Upon returning to the United States, Jerry took over Long Range Planning and Financing for Glitsch. In this capacity, he traveled all over the world. He had the wonderful ability to make friends wherever he went and to disarm those with whom he was doing business with a deceptive Texas charm. He drove a hard bargain, always believing everything could be negotiated. Jerry was one of the first western businessmen in East Germany after the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He became Vice-president at Glitsch and assisted the company as a consultant after it was sold by Foster Wheeler in 1997. Jerry was an avid collector of Antique Shaving Mugs for over 40 years and was instrumental in the formation of the National Shaving Mug Collectors Association, of which he was president. After Glitsch, Jerry founded a small consulting business and became accredited as a Professional Mediator. He had a lifelong drive to always improve himself through education and experience and loved helping others find resolution through mediation. In 2004, Jerry and his wife Nancy moved to Anacortes, Washington where they spent their days walking their beloved dogs along the rocky coasts, deep into the evergreen forests and around peaceful lakes. He loved the Dallas Cowboys and any Sunday the Cowboys won was a happy one. He and Nancy also loved to travel. They took many adventurous trips: helicopter hiking in Canada, whitewater rafting in the Cascades, flying in a balloon over the south of France, driving winding mountain roads of Northern Italy. Nancy Thompson passed away in 2013 and not a day went by that Jerry didn't express how much he missed her. Jerry was dearly loved by his family and will be deeply missed. He is survived by his children Shannon Casey, Scot Casey and Tish Slagle.