Dorothy Stanley Thompson

1921 ~ 2012

Monterey - Dorothy Stanley Thompson, a local resident since 1953, passed away peacefully on June 6, 2012, at the age of 90. Born December 13, 1921 in Los Angeles, California, to Henry Welles Stanley and Kathryn Schneider Stanley, Dorothy went to Los Angeles High School and was president of the Philomathian Literary Club while Ray Bradbury, the science fiction writer, was president of the Poetry Club. She attended UCLA for two years where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, then transferred to Stanford University where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in English in 1943. During World War II, she joined the WAVES and trained at Smith College and Mt. Holyoke. She served as a code / cipher officer at North Island Naval Air Station at San Diego, resigning in 1946 as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade).

In 1948 Dorothy married Warren Charles Thompson, who went on to become a Professor of Oceanography at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey until his retirement in 1981. Dorothy and Warren had four children. Dorothy read widely and enjoyed traveling, Bible study, and family history. She was the last of her direct branch of the Stanley family that emigrated from England to Connecticut in 1634. Her mother's father came West in 1852 to the California Gold Rush and later silver strikes in Nevada. Her uncle, Carl Stanley, managed the historic Del Monte Hotel in Monterey from 1915 until it was acquired for the US Naval Postgraduate School in 1947.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband, Warren Thompson of Monterey, California, and her daughter, Diana Gibeau of Carmel Valley, California. She leaves a daughter, Laurel Hotten of Monterey, California and two sons, Craig Thompson of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Forrest Thompson of Kirkland, Washington; eleven grandchildren: Celeste, Neil, and Eva Gibeau; Kathryn and Alison Hotten; Owen, Rex, Mollie, and Cameron Thompson; Jennifer Duncan and Kathryn Applegate; and three great grandchildren, Luke and Jacob Duncan and Lucy Applegate.

Private burial will take place at El Carmelo Cemetery in Pacific Grove. Please visit www.thepaulmortuary.com to sign Dorothy’s guest book and leave messages for her family.

We thank friends, family and the VNA Hospice program for their support.