Donald (Don) John Thompson

With calm courage, Don departed for his eternal destination on April 21, 2023 just five days after his 77th birthday. While cancer weakened him physically, his incredible spirit, personality, and sense of humour remained steadfast.

During his illness, family marveled at the kindness and support of his amazing friends, who, likewise, felt the same about his family. The common denominator was Don. Everyone in Don’s life was special because he was special. People wanted to be Don’s friend because he made it easy, and he made it fun. While you always knew where he stood and what he thought, he was always kind. Very kind.

Don grew up on the family farm in Ostenfeld and lived his adult life in Winnipeg. Don lived life on his own terms, and he lived it about as well as anyone could have scripted. Embracing bachelorhood, he focussed on amassing a wide range of loyal and enduring friendships, including many during his career with airlines starting with his beloved CP Air. Testament to Don’s appeal, his airline friends remained tremendously close 20 plus years after his retirement.

Family meant so much to Don. He made sure to visit nieces, nephews, and extended relatives from Ontario to BC. Don would go on trips with family as well and became known as “Tio Don” during trips to Mexico with Nephew Jay, Niece Jenn, and their families. He became everyone’s Tio while on vacation. Don was a great neighbour. In the past few weeks, he naturally endeared himself to St. Boniface Palliative Care staff, to whom we express such gratitude for all the compassion, care, and kindness given to Don and his loved ones.

You can sense the theme here - Don travelled the world, had the best friends, maintained close relationships with family, and was loved by everyone he met. Don could enjoy his solitudes, but life was filled with friends and family at every turn. His best moments involved world travel, food, red wine, his backyard pool/pizza parties, yard/flowers, Redskins/NFL, Jets (Sec 204), hiking, biking, camping, berry picking, beach walks and country music. During his illness, he remarked many times that he lived the life he wanted to live. There are simply too many friends to name and all gave incredible support during Don's brief illness. The sheer volume of visitors to St. B required something of a booking agent to handle the flow. He felt such love and was uplifted by everyone. The best we can do now to honour him is to smile, laugh, be kind, and enjoy Life. That was Don’s way!

Don is survived by his brothers Albert (Pat), Cliff (Agnes), Stuart (Gloria), many nieces & nephews, and his many friends. You all know who you are and you know how he felt about you. Don was predeceased by his parents, John and Minnie Thompson.

Don’s memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 6th, 2023, at 2:00 PM at Green Acres Funeral Home, Highway 1 East at Navin Road, Winnipeg, it will also be livestreamed, and a link will be provided on his obituary at www.greenacresfuneralhome.com. Interment and then lunch will follow the service.

In memory of Don, please consider contributing to Palliative Manitoba or Cancer Care Manitoba.