Memorial Service
Schertz Funeral Home Chapel-
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2217 FM 3009
Schertz, Texas 78154
1930
Mary
2018
Mary Thompson
December 28, 1930 — February 25, 2018
Mrs. Mary Cothen Thompson passed away on February 25, 2018 in Live Oak, Texas at the age of 87. Mrs. Thompson was born in Berryville, Arkansas, December 28, 1930 to Frank and Ruth Smith who died prior to her eleventh birthday. After living for several years I the Baptist Children's Home in Oklahoma City, she was adopted by the pastor of Olivet Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Dr. Grady C. Cothen and his wife, Bettye.
Mary Thompson received her undergraduate education at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma and, following her marriage to Kenneth Thompson, moved to Fort Worth, Texas to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
She played a strong, loving and influential role in the life of her family and in the more than 55 years of ministry shared with her husband. After serving as a pastor's wife for nine years in Texas and Oklahoma, Mary was appointed by the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention for service in Korea. Mrs. Thompson graduated from the Institute of Far Eastern Languages at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut and from the Korean Language Institute at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
Mary served in military chapel programs in fourteen locations, including the Philippines, Turkey and Spain, during her husband's thirty year career as an Air Force Chaplain. She was a prime leader in religious education program at each installation and sang in church choirs all of her adult life. In addition, she served as President of the Offices Wives Club at both Carswell AFB, Texas and Karamursel Common Defense Installation. Turkey. She served as President of the Protestant Women of the Chapel for Spain and the Azores for three years during an assignment at Torrejon Air Base, Madrid, Spain.
Mary Thompson was renowned as a hostess for hundreds of church events and enjoyed entertaining family and friends. Since their birth, her three granddaughters have been the light of her life.
Mrs. Thompson was preceded in death by her adoptive parents, Dr. Grady C. and Martha Elizabeth (Bettye) Cothen. In addition to her husband, Mary is survived by her son, Kenneth Ralph Thompson, Jr. of Boulder, Colorado; her son, Grady Eugene Thompson and wife, Deborah; brother, Grady Cothen, Jr. and wife, Leila Routh Cothen of Cleveland, Maryland; sister, Carole Shields Westbrook and husband, Hugh Westbrook of Miami, Florida; three granddaughters, Kirsten Kathleen and Briyana; great granddaughter, Dahlia St. Ledger.
A Memorial Service is scheduled for 2:00PM at Schertz Funeral Home Chapel on Saturday, March 3, 2018.
In lieu of flowers her family requests that memorial contributions be made in Mary's name to the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, 3800 North May Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK 73112-6506. Phone: (405) 942-3800, Ext. 4628.
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