John Thompson, Wimberley Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6441 Commander, will be honored this Friday in a way for the community to try and help continue his mission after he died suddenly on April 26.
The Wimberley VFW will host a special bingo night on Friday honoring a cause championed by the late post commander.
“He was confidant, a mentor, a friend and most of all he was family,” Manny Grafia, who has succeeded Thompson as Commander of the Wimberley VFW. “When you meet John you have no choice but to fall into the realm of family with him. That is who he was to me as an individual, me as a senior vice commander and to all the members there regardless of how active they are.”
All funds raised at the VFW’s bingo this Friday will go to the newly created John Thompson’s Veteran Mental Health Initiative.
“A lot of us come back (from war) with things that we didn’t go over there with, but we are too prideful to talk about,” Grafia said. “But John was an outlet. We could talk about these things with him and relieve some of that stress. When military guys talk to civilians, they look at us like we are crazy, but when you talk to another veteran, it is different… He felt strongly about helping the veteran as whole – not just mental health – but more a re-completing-the-veteran initiative. Mental health was just one part of that… We want to take whatever stress we can off the veteran until there is a more permanent solution available from the VA.”
At the time of his death, Thompson was working with local nonprofits to create a local program that would provide much-needed immediate mental health services before other programs such as those offered by the Veterans Administration could kick in. He believed that such immediate services were essential and that many veterans and their families could not wait for VA and other programs to begin.
“In one of our last conversations, John expressed to me his concern for the lack of mental health services for veterans in Wimberley,” Kate Sowell, executive director of Barnabas Connection, said. “He was very passionate about doing whatever it took to make sure that we would be able to connect our nation’s heroes to the services they so badly needed and were deserving of. We talked about how wonderful it would be to have a shared position for the VFW and Barnabas, that could support both veterans and low income individuals/families/children that needed counseling, free of charge.”
Thompson was born on June 10, 1947, in Houston. He is survived by his loving wife, Diane, who was by his side for 44 years as well as two sons Dr. Troy Thompson and Chief Tory Thompson, four grandchildren, two sisters and two brothers.
John graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in Houston, and attended Lamar University for a short time before joining the Navy. He served during the Vietnam Era on the USS Nathanael Greene ballistic missile submarine and served six years.
After his service to his country, he returned to Lamar University to complete his degree and then went to work in Engineering Graphic Design for Turner, Collie & Braden Consulting Engineers, TXDOT, and retired from the city of Austin.
John was loved and respected by the Wimberley Community. He served as Commander of the VFW Post #6441 for many years and loved overseeing the rodeo every Fourth of July holiday. He also was proud to carry the flag leading the Independence Day parade.
John was a volunteer at KWVH Radio, and he had four different roles. He was the promotional connection to the Wimberley VFW Post 6441 on KWVH, he oversaw the Wimberley Valley Radio “Veteran of the Week” program by nominating weekly candidates and then promoting them on the air and on the KWVH website. He co-hosted the KWVH Wimberley Radio Wake Up Club radio program every Tuesday morning from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. along with Michaelanne Hurst, of the Wimberley Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Wimberley Mayor Gina Fulkerson. He also volunteered by doing radio station promotional and public service on air announcements along with radio station pledge drive messages.
The local VFW, with the help of the Barnabas Connection, established the John Thompson’s Veteran Mental Health Initiative to fill this gap and to meet the immediate mental health needs of local veterans and their families, a cause which Thompson was actively working to champion in the Wimberley Valley. Donations for the fund can be sent to the VFW Post 6441, Box 535, Wimberley, TX 78676.
For this week’s bingo fundraiser, early bird bingo begins at 7 p.m. with regular bingo at 8 p.m. Bring the family, enjoy the bingo fun and the great food at the concession and support local mental health care for local veterans.
John Thompson’s obituary was used for portions of this article with permission.
“We all need to be aware of the sacrifices of our Veterans, some of them with permanent scars, both emotional and physical. It is important that we honor them and continue to support and recognize them on Veterans Day and every day.” John Thompson Speaking to Wimberley ISD students in 2018
