Pastor, humorist, decorated veteran Thompson dies

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

After a German U-boat sank the ship that Merchant Marine Harrison Thompson had served on in World War II, he floated for hours on the Red Sea thinking that there had to be some reason God was keeping him alive.

After the war, Thompson went to Temple University, obtained a master's of divinity degree, joined the Navy and became a chaplain during the Korean War.

The Rev. Harrison Rhodes Thompson, former pastor of the Griffith United Methodist Church in Las Vegas, who after his retirement nursed hundreds of sick birds back to health and wrote books and magazine articles on the healing power of love and humor, died Thursday of cancer at Nathan Adelson Hospice. He was 80.

At Monday's services at Griffith Methodist Church, a building that Thompson designed in the mid-1960s, his longtime friend, the Rev. Jerry Blankinship, remembered Thompson as a man who could see humor in everything, including death.

"In the mid-1960s, Harrison wrote a sermon called 'Funerals can be Heathen,' " Blankinship told about 200 mourners at the service. "He said he did not 'want you to visit my grave as I have no intention of being there after my funeral.' "

Thompson, a Las Vegan for 30 years, and Blankinship met while they were working in the ministry in San Diego. Blankinship, the first chaplain at Sunrise Hospital, later invited Thompson to serve there as part-time chaplain after his retirement. Thompson held that post from 1977 until he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996.

Thompson, who lost part of a finger during the war, entertained sick children at the hospital by decorating the partial digit as a finger puppet named "Stumpy."

As Thompson lay near death, Blankinship sat at his side. Not to miss an opportunity to inject humor even during such a somber moment, Thompson reminded Blankinship that he had a job to do: "Don't just sit there. Read some scripture."

Thompson's son-in-law, UNLV sociology professor Ron Smith, also recalled Thompson's wry sense of humor, noting that he often said he was not very good at investing money: "His only investment that he said ever grew was his (love for his) wife of 57 years." Dorothy Thompson survives him.

Smith also fondly recalled how for many years neighbors brought sick birds to Thompson at his East Las Vegas mobile home, and he would nurse them back to health, then return them to the wild.

In a May 15, 1989, Sun story Thompson recalled a wounded baby finch he rescued and made a pet: "I cupped it in my hands and she didn't struggle at all. She just looked at me."

Chirpy Bird, who often slept in an antique porcelain bowl in Thompson's cupboard, went on to live 17 years -- more than five times the expected lifespan of a finch.

Born Aug. 14, 1918, in Kuling, China, Thompson was one of two children of American medical missionary parents Dr. Louis Royer Thompson and his wife, registered nurse Harriet Thompson. Thompson was raised in New Jersey.

During World War II, Thompson not only lost part of a finger but also took shrapnel in his back that remained with him the rest of his life. Thompson earned two Silver Stars and a Purple Heart and later served in the National Guard.

While living in Las Vegas, Thompson suffered further back injuries from an automobile accident that forced his retirement from Griffith in 1972 after six years at the helm.

In retirement Thompson was rarely idle. He collected baseball caps, did wood carving and made jewelry. He kept turtles, as well as birds, and was a skilled hunter.

He was an inventor, his creations including the patented product "Cover Scent" that hunters would apply to their skin to make them smell like pine trees and fool potential game.

He wrote many magazine articles and a novel published in 1979, "Seventh Sense."

He was a die-hard Chicago Cubs baseball fan, a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Las Vegas Writers Club.

In addition to his wife, Thompson is survived by his daughter, Susan Thompson, UNLV's director of international programs, and a granddaughter, Kelleen Smith of Las Vegas. He was preceded in death by his son Harrison James "Jim" Thompson and his brother Louis Robert Thompson.

Donations:in Thompson's memory to Nathan Adelson Hospice.