Virgil Euland Thompson of Loleta departed from this world June 17, 2019. He did so peacefully and in the comfort of his home after enjoying a breakfast of peaches and cereal.

Virgil was born November 3, 1938 in Sweetwater, Texas, where he grew up and went to Odessa High School. Directly after high school Virgil enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where his love of aeronautical machines began as a helicopter maintainer. He then went on to become an auto mechanic, which was his profession until he retired.

Virgil married his first wife and had three children. Much later he moved to Los Osos, California, where he married his wife Judy. The two of them and Judy’s daughter moved to Huntington Beach and finally retired to Loleta, where he and his wife designed and built their home.

As a man with a million hobbies, retirement was spent building and piloting his own single engine RV6 plane out of Rohnerville Airport in Fortuna. He was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, the Masonic Lodge, a local Bee Keepers Club, Humboldt Dutch Oven Society, and overpaying under-qualified young men to fix horse fences and made fire wood. Virgil’s volunteerism extended to the local academic institutions of Loleta and Cutten Elementary Schools and St. Bernard’s Catholic School, which his grandson, Ian attended.

Virgil’s legacy continues through his wife, Judy, son Ross, daughters Rena, Melinda, and Amy, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, grandson Ian, and the numerous youths he mentored. There will be a private service upon the family’s request.

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