Our dear mother, grandmother, aunt and friend, Corinne Adeline Keasling Thomson, passed away Sunday, September 13, 2009, after a valiant fight with cancer.
Corinne was born January 1, 1927, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the oldest child of Jacob Keasling and Rachel Carey. She had one sister, Elaine. Her family moved to Missouri, and at the age of six, her mother passed away. Her father, a traveling salesman, had no one to care for the girls while he was on the road. The girls were taken to St. Ann’s Orphanage, on 21st South in Salt Lake City, for a short time until he could get settled and be home to care for them. He married again, and Corinne and her sister were raised by their father and stepmother, Grandma Montague.
While working at a drug-store soda fountain in Missouri, Corinne met the love of her life, Kenneth Brown Thomson. He was a missionary for the L.D.S. church, and would eat lunch every day at the drug store just to be near Corinne. His missionary journal said that he was like a love struck school boy around her. When her father asked what Ken’s intentions were for his daughter, Ken said he would like to marry her. So when his family came to pick him up following his mission, she returned home with them. They were married on June 5, 1944 in the Salt Lake Temple.
Together they had seven children, Chris, Bob, Michael, Charlotte, Catherine, Peggy, and David. They made their home in the South Salt Lake-Kearns area. Kenneth died in February 1961, leaving Corinne alone, at the age of 34, to care for the children. With no higher education or skills to support such a large family, she went to nursing school and began a career in nursing.
After all her children were grown, she moved many times to be near them and her grandchildren. She lived in Salt Lake City, Brigham City, Ogden, St. George, Fresno, California, and finally Temple, Pennsylvania.
Grandma was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For many years she served as an ordinance worker in the Ogden temple, as well as serving in various callings in the wards she
lived in. Grandma loved family history, and sharing what she learned about her ancestors with her family. She enjoyed crocheting and painting ceramics. Grandma was known to tell a good story. Often her stories were of Grandpa Thomson, perhaps to make sure that he was not forgotten or so those of us who never knew him would feel a connection to him. Very compassionate and caring, Grandma would give the shirt off her back if she knew it would help someone. Many of her children and grandchildren were recipients of her care and concern.
Corinne was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Elaine Moore, her husband Kenneth, and her eldest son Chris. She is survived by her children: Bob and Francene Thomson, Michael Thomson, Charlotte and Jesse James, Cathy and Eugene Kochen, Peggy Garrison, and David and Denise Thomson, as well as 22 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren.
The family offers a heart-felt thank you to Cathy and Gene who took such tender care of Grandma in her last years. May God bless you for your kindness and sacrifice.
Graveside services were held Friday, September 18, 2009, at Valley View Memorial Park in Taylorsville, Utah.
No comments:
Post a Comment