John R. "Dick"Thompson was born December 9, 1925, in Zanesville, OH.

He graduated from Zanesville High School in 1943 and entered Ohio University Athens as a pre-engineering student until enlisting in the Army Air Force in February 1944.

He was a Central Fire Control Gunner (top) on a B-29, stationed in Guam and flew 17 missions over Japan. Dick was honorably discharged in April 1946 and entered OSU School of Industrial Engineering to graduate in 1951.

In 1947, he married Shirlee Thorne Thompson; they have 4 children, Victoria, Stephen, Jeffery and Jana. They have 9 grandchildren.

Dick's first job out of college was with Delco Products in Dayton. Then he returned to Zanesville to become a partner in Thompson Radio Supplies as sales manager with his father C.O.D Thompson and his brother Chet, and then became sole owner until closing the business in 1994.

He was an enthusiastic gardener, an amateur photographer, loved to travel and especially loved his fishing and boating, particularly his Canadian trips.