Margaret "Maggie" C. Thompson

On Saturday, December 1, Maggie Thompson, 90, passed away peacefully at her home with her two daughters Mary and Liz by her side. Webster the cat kept watch nearby. She was born Margaret Louise Cunningham March 11, 1928 in Tulsa, OK, daughter to Ralph and Margaret and sister to Drucilla.

At Central High School, she hated gym class because you “had to walk 10 blocks through downtown Tulsa to get to the athletic park.” At the age of 19, while working for American Airlines, she met test pilot Spencer Thompson. A year and a half later, Valentine’s Day, 1950, while she was in the hospital recovering from a brief illness, Spencer walked into her room and found some gentleman named George fluffing her pillow. At that moment, he realized he couldn’t live without her and proposed. Maggie said she’d think about it. She said “yes” the next day and after her hospital discharge, they eloped to New Orleans (can you call it an elopement when your parents know?) and were married.

In 1960 American Airlines announced they were closing the pilots’ base in Tulsa. Spencer, now a captain flying commercial planes, was transferred to Chicago. From the day they chose their new house until the day before the move, Maggie cried as she envisioned her life as a midwesterner. As she readied her two girls for the move, Spencer surprised her by asking, “would you rather move to Nashville? There’s an opening there.” She screamed, “YES!” She would later admit, “Sometimes, crying helps.”

Nashville became Maggie’s true home. Over the next 58 years, she joined Fannie Battle Day Home’s group of volunteers, Fort Nashborough Chapter of DAR, Cumberland Heights Friends, Temple Hills Women’s Golf group, Belmont Auxiliary and Centennial Club. Her passions were Bridge and golf. Family and friends will always remember Maggie’s fried chicken, fried corn, tipsy sweet potatoes and cornbread dressing.

Following Spencer’s death in 2005 and after 55 years of marriage, 77-year-old Maggie left her home on Tara Drive and began a new life at Windsor Tower, where she fell in love with every one of her new neighbors. They loved her, in turn, for her joy, her beautiful smile and her talent for telling jokes.

Maggie will remain in the hearts of her daughters, Mary Margaret Hiles in Smyrna and Liz Williams in Nashville, her grandchildren John Hiles and Scott Hiles from Smyrna, Eddie Williams, who lives in Richmond, VA and Margaret Williams of Fairview. She is also great-grandmother to Jace and Christian Hiles and great-great-grandmother to Orion Kennedy Hiles.

Visitation will be from noon until 2 p.m. on Saturday December 8,2018 at Immanuel Baptist Church, 222 Belle Meade Boulevard in Nashville. A celebration of her life is slated for 2 p.m. in the church’s sanctuary. Burial will follow at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, Mary and Liz request

that Maggie’s friends make donations to Alive Hospice, whose guidance and support helped

Maggie stay as comfortable as possible for the last four weeks of her life.