Constance L Thompson

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Benette Constance Lindal was born on August 1, 1934, to Ben and Hilda Rovik Lindal. She had two sisters, Ruthie (12 years older) and Audrey (6 years older). Ben was 12 years older than 18-year-old Hilda, and her father had encouraged the marriage, since he was sure that Ben would be able to provide financially for a wife. When the Depression hit in 1929, Ben’s lumber business failed and they lost their home. Ben got a job managing a coal yard and the family lived rent-free onsite, with a subsistence diet of potatoes and carrots. Hilda managed the office, and Ruthie had to drop out of school to care for her two younger sisters.

Hilda had a nervous breakdown after Connie’s birth and was overwhelmed with a sense of spiritual guilt. Hearing a radio message from Moody Bible Institute changed her life. The sermon by Wendell Loveless explained, “On the cross, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ Your salvation is paid for. All you have to do is take it.” Hilda’s life took on a whole new direction. Ben’s business improved and the family moved to a house in the suburbs, while Hilda became involved in Bible classes at several Chicago rescue missions.

While Connie was in elementary school, her mother would often take her to the missions to sing hymns and gospel songs while her mother accompanied her on the piano. Those singing days left a lasting impression. Even into her 90s and after years of dementia, Connie still remembered all the verses of every hymn—she never needed to refer to the hymnal.

From childhood, Connie had a strong sense of self, and she learned independence at an early age. Although her legal name was Benette, she changed it to Constance as soon as possible. When her mother sent her off to school wearing dowdy long black stockings, she would stop daily at the gas station on her walk to school, slip into the restroom to change to the preferred bobby socks and apply her makeup before arriving at school. The trip home included the same stop.

Connie attended three different high schools and finished her senior year in Nyack, New York, where she lived with her sister Audrey and her husband Ric Ward. As a teenager, Connie began working in New York City and commuted by bus, train and ferry. She decided to attend Augsburg College in Minneapolis since she wanted to meet friends from her Scandinavian and Lutheran background. She met Glenn Thompson on the first day of freshman orientation and they were married by the end of the school year.

Glenn continued his college studies to become an electrical engineer, and Connie went to work in a variety of jobs, including long-distance telephone operator, paint factory employee, and bookkeeper. Five children followed in quick succession: Julie, Janet, Wayne, Jeanine and Bruce. After Glenn graduated and began working for Honeywell, the family moved to Coon Rapids, in an up-and-coming neighborhood filled with children and open fields to explore. It was the era of one-car families, when the husbands took the car to work, the children walked a mile to school, and the housewives gathered for morning coffee after the laundry was hung on the clothesline. Connie devoted herself to making a pleasant and comfortable home, sewing dresses for her girls, painting and wallpapering the rooms, and also helping her parents, who now lived in nearby Minneapolis.

Glenn was transferred to Chicago and the family moved to the suburb of Des Plaines for a year, but a visit to Florida changed the Thompson family forever. When invited to visit a friend in Cocoa Beach, it didn’t take much convincing for Glenn to change Chicago weather for Florida sunshine; he suffered from severe hay fever and Florida breezes were a welcome relief from pollen. Glenn was hired by Boeing to work for the space program, and the family made a much-welcomed move to the Sunshine State.

When all the children were enrolled in school, Connie went back to work as a bookkeeper for nearby Patrick Air Force Base. She continued to sew her own clothes and was always fashionably dressed for work. The Cocoa Beach years were full of excitement from the Apollo moon program. While the children were involved in school and sports, Glenn and Connie also had plenty of adventures. Glenn loved water skiing and always had a boat for weekends on the river. Many of Glenn’s co-workers were bachelors, and they all became involved in driving to the Keys for weekends of boating and snorkeling. After working full-time jobs, Glenn and Connie would pile the five kids into the car (later the camper), drive five hours to the Keys and spend every possible moment on the water. When Glenn decided to add scuba diving to the agenda, Connie insisted that she be included, and she bested Glenn’s score in the certification test.

When the space program was winding down, Glenn took a job in Miami, so the family moved south. Connie continued in her bookkeeping work for several companies. After college, Julie had returned home and began attending Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. While the Thompson family had always gone to Lutheran churches, the spiritual vitality was lacking, so it was not a difficult decision to begin attending Coral Ridge. This was another key life event for Connie and Glenn.

Although both of them had grown up in Christian homes, their lives had taken some challenging turns and spiritual renewal was much needed. Both Glenn and Connie became active at Coral Ridge, and both experienced some vivid evidence of God’s work in their lives. Glenn was hospitalized with a walnut-size lump in his lung, but after prayer from a Coral Ridge elder, the lump disappeared. Around that same time, Connie had a brain aneurysm, usually a fatal experience. Her life was also spared, and she made a full recovery from the surgery.

Grateful for God’s healing and for a new sense of purpose, Glenn became involved in short-term mission work in Indonesia, using his electrical engineering skills to help with practical needs for missionary life. After several short-term trips for Glenn, Connie joined him, and they went overseas with Mission Aviation Fellowship as second-career missionaries. Leaving for the mission field as grandparents was not easy, but Connie insisted on raising sufficient support to allow them to return stateside each year to visit grandchildren.

Language school was challenging but Glenn and Connie graduated and went to the MAF base in Sentani, Irian Jaya, where Glenn oversaw construction while Connie did bookkeeping, taught English classes, and ran the guest house for the non-stop visits by travelling missionaries.

After nearly ten years, the Thompsons returned to Florida, first to Cocoa Beach, then to Advent Christian Village in Northern Florida, and finally, to Plantation, to be closer to family.

Over the years, Connie had experienced a number of health problems. She was in a serious car accident while in Irian; she was severely injured while two of the other women were killed. After extensive medical treatment in Australia, Connie was sent back to the US for a year’s recovery. She and Glenn lived with daughter Jeanine and her husband Mark during that time and enjoyed the respite care. After returning to Irian the following year, Connie was in a rickshaw accident and was hurled into a drainage ditch near the road. Both her arms were broken, including the one that had required over a year to heal from her previous accident. Years of deskwork led to severe torticollis in her neck, which required yearly shots to help relax the frozen muscles. When Connie was diagnosed with dementia, being close to family became even more important.

Dementia is a difficult disease, but once again, Connie defied the odds. She lived far longer than the average patient and retained some of her mental clarity. Glenn was a devoted full-time caregiver, and she had loving assistance from family and devoted aides.

After Glenn’s death, Connie’s family moved her to a bright and cheerful home, where she could spend her final days surrounded by happy memories, Christian music, loving attention and a peaceful atmosphere.

Connie was a strong woman who made her family a high priority. She devoted herself to being a wife and mother as well as being a worker of excellence. As a young woman, Connie had wryly commented that she didn’t want to become a Christian for fear that God would send her as a missionary to Africa. That prediction was not far off, but when God did send her as a missionary to Indonesia, she went with a renewed heart and served faithfully.

Connie was the type of mother who made her children feel loved, but she also expected them to work hard. She was a continual example of faithfulness and personal sacrifice. Her lifetime of steadfast service, loyalty and love will be long remembered. We are so grateful for her lasting impact on us and thank God for the heritage of a mother who loved the Lord.

Family:

Connie is survived by five children, all married: Julie Thompson Caprera (Robert) of Southbridge, MA; Janet Thompson Beavin (Robert) of Berryville, VA; Wayne Thompson (Anne) of Cincinnati, OH; Jeanine Thompson Coleman (Mark) of Plantation, FL; and Bruce Thompson (Linda) of Deerfield Beach, FL.

Also included are 12 grandchildren: Paul Caprera (Allison) of Albany, NY; Ashley Caprera Lowe (Chris) of Woodstock, CT; Michael Caprera of Colorado Springs, CO; Amy Beavin Patten (David) of Vienna, VA; Jeremy Beavin (Roxanne) of Winchester, VA; Amanda Beavin Gauldin (Chris) of Leesburg, VA; Joel Beavin of Leesburg, VA; Abigail Beavin of Charlestown, WV; Adam Thompson (Marie) of Cincinnati, OH; Sarah Thompson Dimitri (John) of Ellerslie, GA; Grace Coleman Neetz (Benaiah) of Twin Falls, ID; Glory Coleman of Plantation, FL; Rachel and Caleb Thompson, both of Deerfield Beach, FL.

The Thompson family line also has 21 great-grandchildren, ranging from toddler age to college student.