Jim was born in Victoria on Vancouver island in 1941. He was from a large family of 6 children. The girls Jeannette and Diane, and boys Jim, Brian, Richard and David. Walter was their stepbrother living on the island too. Jim spent most of his growing years on the Island, and decided to work in the forestry industry. He attended UBC in the faculty of forestry, and spent summers working at the Harmac pulp mill. This led to a permanent placement in Vancouver at MacMillan Bloedel as a senior technician in their research lab. This is where he met his wife Heidi, who came from Germany. After their marriage in 1970, two years later they had twins, Jason and Sabina were born.
In Jim's working career he excelled at sales, and his ambition took him to start his own business. He decided to stay with the pulp and paper industry and went into business representing all of North America various products, his most successful being roller felts and polyurethane rolls from the Nippon Felt Company in Japan. He was very detail oriented and had a knack for anticipating the customer's needs. He saw the whole picture and his suppliers were always amazed how he managed with very little staff. Jim became successful very quickly.
He had a love for horse racing. He owned, bred and raced thoroughbred horses. He named them after family members or often chose witty names. His children always found them to be humorous! FiveInTheEye, Henpecker, Bean Power, and Hoof Hearted were among them. Jim always had a great sense of humour and always saw the glass as half full rather than half empty. He stayed positive and had a zest for life all the way to the end.A medical incident in 1998 forced him to be involved less and less. His son who had been working with him since 1990 took on more and more operations of the company until 2005, Jim withdrew from all his duties.
In the past few years Jim and Heidi enjoyed cruises and went to many places around North and South America. A floating hotel with good food and large balconied suites were just his thing, while Heidi explored the stops along the way. Another great joy in Jim's life were his grand children, Tyler and Jack. Jason and Jennifer were married in 2008 and have a three and a half year old (Tyler) and a one year old (Jack). Jim had a very special bond with Tyler and enjoyed their visits immensely. From a very early age Tyler was fascinated with Grandpa's cane, which he has today in memory of Jim. Tyler always knew that Grandpa was always looking forward to seeing his special little guy. And Jack, always smiling, sat with Grandpa and played with toys that Grandpa had made for his own kids. Jim was predeceased by his brothers Richard, Brian and David, his sister Diane, and his parents Alex Thomson (born in Johannesburg, South Africa) and Eva Jeannette Thomson (born in San Francisco, Ca). He is survived by his wife of 44 years Heidi, his daughter Sabina, son Jason, grandsons Tyler and Jack, his sister Jeannette, brother Walter, and many nieces and nephews.
Jim is layed to rest at St. Stephens Church in Saanichton at the Thomson Plot in a Service held May 3, 2014.
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