Ardelle Constance Thompson

She was born on December 21, 1924 in Avon, South Dakota. Her family lived for a few years in Rapid City, South Dakota before moving to Illinois.

She graduated from East St. Louis Senior High School and in 1944, graduated from Summers College of Commerce. Her first job was as a secretary at Alcoa Aluminum where she met her future husband, Robert W. Thompson. They were married for 63 years and lived in Troy since 1970.

Ardelle worked as an executive assistant for the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service laboratory in St. Louis for 35 years before retiring in 1988. She was a member of Meadow Heights Baptist Church in Collinsville and served for several decades as a first grade Sunday school teacher. She was an active member of the Troy Women's Club, served as an election judge, and as a 4-H leader. She loved to garden, travel, read mystery novels as well as listening to classical music. An avid crossword puzzle devote, she and her sister used to race to see who could finish the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle each week.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Robert (Bob) Thompson and her parents, Willie E. and Edna (Johnson) Schmidt.

She is survived by her son Dennis W. (Joanie) Thompson of Goodyear, Arizona; daughter Annette Thompson (Jack) Meeks of Minneapolis, Minnesota; grandchildren Kristin Thompson (Greg) Schutz of Troy; Derek W. Thompson of Edwardsville; Aaron M. Thompson of Almaty, Kazakhstan; great-grandchild Denver W. Thompson; and sister Shirley Robertson, and special niece Robin Higgins, both of Minneapolis.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation or to the Meadow Heights Baptist Church Building Fund in Collinsville, Illinois.

Visitation: Friends may call from 10 to 11 am, Saturday, May 28, 2016 at Lake View Funeral Home, Fairview Heights, Illinois.

Funeral: Funeral Services will be held at 11 am, Saturday, May 28, 2016 at Lake View Funeral Home, Fairview Heights, Illinois. Inurnment will be private in Lake View Memorial Gardens.