Joan M. Thompson's Obituary
FLORIST NOTE: PLEASE HAVE ALL FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS DELIVERED TO PARSELL FUNERAL HOME, LEWES, BY WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019 BY 11:00 AM.
Joan “Honey" Thompson died peacefully at the Delaware Hospice Center Monday, July 1st, 2019.
Born at Beebe Hospital in Lewes, Delaware, August 6th, 1927, her roots ran deep in Lewes and its Maritime history. Her parents were Arthur W, Marshall, Jr. and Katherine Leaverton Marshall. Both her father and grandfather were Delaware River pilots and her great-grandfather, John Penrose Virden was the first President of the Pilots Association for the Bay and River Delaware.
Joan was a 1945 graduate of Lewes High School and went on to study history and political science at the University of Delaware where she was crowned the1949 May Queen. Upon graduation in 1949, she began her education career at P.S. duPont School as a ninth grade counselor and team teaching coordinator. In 1950 she married her college sweetheart, Harold "Buck" Thompson. Teaching took a backseat to raising her two daughters, Shelly and Kathy, but she continued to substitute teach, She went back to teaching full time when the girls were older and obtained her Masters degree in guidance counseling from Villanova University. In 1972 she and Buck moved back to her beloved Lewes, where she became a high school counselor in the Indian River School District until 1980, when she transferred to Woodbridge High as a counselor from 1980 to 1985.
Joan was co-creator of the Sussex School Counselors Association. She also wrote a social column for the Whale Newspaper when it first published in 1975.
After retirement in 1985, she took to volunteer work with enthusiasm! She helped to get the Southern Delaware Hospice off the ground, working in the office and with patient’s families for 10 years. She was also a longtime member and supporter of the Lewes Historical Society and who, for several years, served as a docent at the Cannon Ball House in Lewes.
Joan was a charter member of the Cape Artists and member of the Delaware Watercolor Society. Her favorite painting subject: Lewes Beaches and marshes! She has been a life-long poet, famous in her family for her yearly Christmas poem. She also served on the Delaware Maritime Hall of Fame Advisory Committee. In 2008, she was honored as the DeVries Chapter of Business and Professional Women's Woman in History.
She was a member of the Friends of the Lewes Public Library, the Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation and the DAR. Joan was a co-founder of the U.D. Alumni Association Sussex Chapter, having been named UD Outstanding Alumna in 1997.
Joan was pre-deceased by her husband Buck in 2006 and her daughter, Kathi Booth in the same year.
She is survived by her daughter Shelly Sposato and husband Fred; grandchildren: William (Buck) Booth and wife Laura, Meg Booth Lawson and husband Cliff, Allisa Booth Stoeckel and husband Justin, Mark Booth, Spencer Booth and wife Linley, Marshall Owings and wife Jaye, Casey Owings and wife Megan and Ali Sposato Jones and husband Andrew. She is also survived by 18 great-grandchildren.
"Honey's" many personal and professional accomplishments pale in comparison to the Mother, grandmother and great-grandmother she was. Generous with her love, sense of fairness and full on support of her loved ones. One of her greatest strengths was that of "Friend", of which she had many.
A Celebration of Joan's Life will be held on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at 3:00 PM, at Parsell Funeral Homes and Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, 16961 Kings Highway, Lewes, DE, 19958, where friends may visit beginning at 2:00 PM.
Memorial Contributions may be made to Delaware Hospice, 100 Patriots Way, Milford, DE 19963.
Please sign Joan’s online guestbook on this site.
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