Legacies Live Forever: Andy Thompson

Marietta, OH – "I love you, Jade. You've been the best wife for me. You've taken care of me, our children, and our adopted international children, our dogs... I'm really grateful you're by my side." These were the words Andy Thompson spoke to his wife just a week before his unexpected passing.

For those who knew Andy, words of encouragement were never far from his lips. According to Jade, “he always knew how to tell the people in his life that he loved and appreciated them.”

Jade and Andy Thompson

These words that Andy spoke to his wife of 35 years are words that Jade will cherish for the rest of her life because they represent the character of the man she loved: decent, honest, and grateful.

In 1963, Andrew “Andy” Miller Thompson was born in Pella, Iowa, to two Marietta natives: William “Bill” H. Thompson, Jr. and Elsa Ekenstierna Thompson. Bill Thompson worked as VP of advancement for Central College, which years later would become his son’s alma mater.

The couple returned to their roots after Bill accepted a position at Marietta College. They began raising their three children, Billy, Andy, and Laura, in the very place they grew up.

As a child, Andy became fond of sports, creating team loyalties that would last through the rest of his life. After the family moved back to Marietta, Andy began to follow the Cincinnati Reds, but after being blown off by baseball legend, Pete Rose, at an autograph session, Andy decided the Pittsburg Pirates was the team for him.

He would follow the Pirates even after he had moved almost 800 miles away, back to his birthplace of Pell, Iowa. During his time at Central College, Andy studied Political Science and the Spanish language.

Andy spent his junior year studying abroad in Spain. There, he was able to put his language studies to good use, both to communicate with local Spaniards and attracting the attention of a fellow student who would later become his wife.

“Andy and I met in Spain in 1983,” said Jade. “We both studied on the Central College abroad program in Spain in 1983-4. I was attending the University of Texas and he was attending Central College. We became fast friends. I admired his ability to speak Spanish, his gregarious, positive attitude and his fun-loving joking ways, and his intellectual desire to learn as much about Spain and its rich history and culture.”

Soon after his senior year at Central, Andy and Jade were married in August of 1985. The couple moved to Arizona for a brief time where Andy attended graduate school at the University of Arizona. They then made the trek back east to Washington D.C. where Andy began working for the exploratory committee for President George H.W. Bush.

Andy would make the career transition to a nonprofit organization that focused on advancing the principles of a free-market called Competitive Enterprise Institute. Jade began working in the political field as well under Texas Senator Phil Gramm.

However, much like his parents, the desire to come back home weighed heavily on the couple, especially after their first child, Annalea, who was born in 1990. They settled into the family business, Bird Watcher’s Digest, where Andy worked for 27 years. While back home amongst his family, Andy and Jade welcomed two more children into the world: Nathaniel “Nat” Andrew, born June of 1992, and August “Gus” Stewart, born March 2000.

Andy poses with Khadine Ritter, Andy’s Campaign Manager and Attorney at Theisen Brock

Until his untimely passing on May 13th of this year, Andy served his hometown faithfully and diligently. Over the course of his career, he served three terms on Marietta’s City Council, four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, he was a member of Crown of Life Lutheran Church, the Republican Party of Marietta and Ohio, the Marietta Noon Rotary Club, Marietta Mainstreet Board of Directors, Shale Crescent USA Board of Directors, Marietta Chamber of Commerce, and Marietta College’s Men’s Basketball Foster Family Program.

While Andy accomplished so much in his time on Earth, it’s the personal, intimate details that Jade remembers fondly.

“He loved music... The Beatles, Santana, Paul McCartney and Wings, and Jackson Browne were some of his favorites,” said Jade. “He had the most clear blue eyes. He was athletic and loved to pitch for his church softball league years ago. He was a natural leader. He was ambidextrous and could do most things with either hand. He looked for the good and tried not to focus on the bad. He used to say to me when I was upset about something, ‘Don't let that upset live rent-free in your brain.’ He was always quick-witted… coming up with clever puns to make everybody laugh was his specialty.”

Andy was laid to rest in Oak Grove Cemetery, where he will eventually be joined by his wife under a shared tombstone inscribed with a special message: “United in time. Parted in time. To be reunited when time is no more.”

The Thompson Family would like to specifically thank the Marietta Fire Department and Marietta Memorial Health systems for their help, as well as all of their friends and family who came to their aid in this season of grief.