Rev. Walter John Thompson Jr.

Walter, who was born on the 7 of February 1943, the son of the late Walter J. (Sr.) and J. Dorothy (Osborne) Thompson, and was raised and educated in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, and New York (The Bronx), New York.

He is survived by his beloved wife and partner in ministry of 32 years, Dr. Karen Anne (Price) Thompson MD, and his five children, their spouses, and ten grandchildren: Faith Elizabeth (Thompson) and Robert Reel ofJersey City, New Jersey, and their children, Devon Lynn and Robert, Jr.; Heather Jean (Thompson) MacDonald of Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, and her children, Kevin and Kara-Lynn; Walter John (3) and Tara (Delaney) Thompson of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and their children, Brooke and Addison; Charity Joy (Thompson) and Christopher King of Oswego, New York, and their children, Ethan Robert and Clara Grace; and, Jonathan Scott Duncan and Becky (Cordell) Thompson of Alexandria, Virginia, their son, Benjamin Duncan, and daughter, Ella Grace. Also surviving is an older sister, Faith Elizabeth (Thompson) Yelk, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania.

Walter was ordained and commissioned as an officer in The Salvation Army in 1964. He served in The Salvation Army for twenty three years, rising to the rank of Major.

In 1986, following the death of his first wife, Jean, and 23 years as a Salvation Army officer, Walter resigned from The Salvation Army to accept a pastoral assignment with The Wesleyan Church, in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada. He served 33 years as an ordained minister in The Wesleyan Church. In the summer of 2019, after a number of years of affiliation with and service to the Church of God and the Church of God Bible Institute, he transferred his ministerial credentials to the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana).

While serving the Wesleyan Church in Oswego, New York, he met and married Dr. Karen Anne Price, MD and together they served Wesleyan Churches in New York, New Jersey, and Maine. Following retirement, he functioned as a Supply Pastor for churches in several communities (Linneus and Cary) in Aroostook County, Maine. Also, in retirement, and at the invitation of the Church of God Bible Institute (Church of God, Anderson, Indiana), located out of Greeneville, Tennessee, Walter developed the syllabus for two courses of study for them, "Pastoral Ministry" and "Pastoral Counseling," and taught them since 2015.

Walter was predeceased by his first wife of twenty years, Major C. Jean (Duncan) Thompson, on the 5 of February 1986. She was the mother of all five children. He was also predeceased by his daughter's (Heather Jean) husband, Greg MacDonald, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada; two younger brothers, Thomas Neal Thompson of Bangor, Maine and James Russell Thompson of Plant City, Florida, a younger sister, June Elizabeth (Thompson) Ellingsworth of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and brother-in-law, Bernard Barth of Buffalo, New York.

A celebration of life service will be conducted on Saturday, August 20, 2022 at Greeneville First Church of God.