LeRoy (Lee) Arthur Thompson was born to Arthur and Myrtle (Johnson) Thompson on Oct. 15, 1943, in Polk County on a farm outside of Erskine, Minnesota.
He passed away suddenly at the age of 76 on April 8, 2020, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
LeRoy graduated from Luverne High School in Minnesota in 1961 and from Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota) in 1965. After he completed U.S. Naval Flight School as a 1st Lieutenant U.S. Marine, he flew over 600 helicopter missions in Vietnam. In 1970 he gave up a commission as a Marine Captain and returned to the Luverne area where he met Dianne Dreessen.
After getting married to Dianne on Nov. 27, 1970, Lee started his career in the oil industry with Skelly Oil, which became Getty Oil and finally Texaco Oil. That led the family to homes in St. Louis Park, Minnesota; Rochester, Minnesota; Duluth, Minnesota; Clinton, Iowa, where they adopted their two sons, Ryan Lee and Douglas Arthur Thompson. They then lived in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Urbandale, Iowa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Parker, Colorado. Lee retired from Texaco Oil in1998, and he and Dianne moved to Sioux Falls, SD.
Lee is survived by sons, Ryan and Douglas , both of Sioux Falls; and one grandson, Rylie Thompson; sisters Carolyn (Wayne) Holbert of Santee, South Carolina, and Diane (Jim) Hickman of New Braunfels, Texas; brothers Marty (Anita) Thompson of Chanhassen, Minnesota, and Howard (Elaine Knutson) Thompson of Ham Lake, Minnesota; and brother-in-law, Glen Swanson, of Worthington, Minnesota. He is also survived by many cousins, nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Dianne; and his sister, JoAnn Swanson.
Private family services were held at Heritage Funeral Home on April, 16, 2020, with burial at Restlawn Memorial Gardens cemetery.
Arrangements were provided by Heritage Funeral Home of Sioux Falls, www.heritagesfsd.com
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