Inabelle Thompson

InaBelle (Pete) Thompson, of Independence, Kansas passed away October 8, 2020 at her home surrounded by family. She was 98 years old. On Saturday, October 17, 2020, because of the Covid pandemic, a private family Funeral Mass will be held at 10:00am at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Independence. Mask and social distancing will be required. A rosary will precede the Mass at 9:30 am, with burial immediately following in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be held at Potts Chapel, Friday, October 16, 2020 from 5:00-7:00pm. Masks and social distancing will be required. Memorials are suggested to the St. Andrew’s Catholic Church.

Pete was born on a small farm north of Westphalia, Kansas in Anderson County in 1921. She was the daughter to Carl J. and Mary (Plunkett) Plain. She graduated from Westphalia High School. In 1942 she married the love of her life, Charles (Bud) Thompson in Los Angeles, California. They were married 69 years before Bud’s death in 2011. After World War II, and after her husband completed college, they returned to Westphalia to raise their growing family. Bud went to work in the State Bank of Westphalia, which they would later purchase. In 1964 she and her husband purchased the Peoples State Bank of Cherryvale, Kansas. In 1977 Bud retired and they settled in Independence, Kansas.

Pete and her family have been members of the St. Francis Xavier Church in Cherryvale, Kansas and St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Independence for the last 56 years.

Pete’s life was dedicated to her family and faith. She and her husband raised five children. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and mother-in-law. Her family and close friends admired her for her caring ways, from babysitting, tending to sick children and making cinnamon rolls for her neighbors. Her faith in God was unwavering to the end, even after losing her youngest son to cancer when he was 30 years old and her oldest son to cancer at the age of 50. She never missed an opportunity to try and make the lives of her family happier and more fulfilled. She lived a life of a Christian servant.

Those who preceded her in death was her husband, two sons: Stephen M. Thompson and Terry D. Thompson. She is survived by two sons: David and wife Sharon, of Independence, KS., and Bill and wife Belinda, of Fort Scott, KS., and daughter Mary Thompson-O’Rourke and husband Joe, of Independence, KS., 10 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers and honorary pallbearers will be her 10 grandchildren: Jason Thompson, Brooke Kopp, Megan Batrez, Chris Thompson, Kara Brodell, Alicia Thompson-Pagano, Stephanie Thompson-Rush, Nicole Kilgore, Madeline and Ian O’Rourke.