To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Texas Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Texas, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 9/8/21 • Approved: 9/8/21 • Last Updated: 9/11/21 • R455195-G455193-S3
Fritz
1905-1994
Helen
1910-1949
Please see closeup views
*Photo/information, courtesy of Edith Guynes Stanley
*Obituary Fritz
Funeral services for Fritz Thompson, 89, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at First Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Henry Chisholm, pastor, officiating.
Burial will be in Highland Park Cemetery by Minton-Chatwell Funeral Directors of Borger.
The prominent Borger civic leader and former Texas State Legislator died Monday at Ware Memorial Care Center in Amarillo.
A native Texas born on a farm near Nacogdoches on March 25, 1905, Thompson was one of 10 children. He received his education at Nacogdoches High School, Stephen F. Austin University and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
He came to the Panhandle in 1927 to work for Cabot Corporation in Pampa. He later joined his brothers in a retail hardware business in Borger. He was also a farmer-rancher, and pipeline contractor. He was involved in real estate and developed the Thompson addition to the City of Borger.
Thompson held a greater variety of public offices than any other person in Borger, and his list of affiliations read like a directory of local civic organizations.
He was a Hutchinson County Commissioner for 16 years, (1937-1952) during which time much of the highway system in Hutchinson County was achieved.
In recognition of his contributions and promotions of the highway system, he received a Road Hand Award in 1974. He was automatically inducted into the hall of honor to Texas Road Hands.
Thompson was known throughout the state as "Mr. Highways" and served three terms as president of the Texas Roads Association.
He served as Borger City Manager for three years.
Borger Mayor Judy Flanders, said, "Fritz was pretty much out of city business when I was elected to the city council, but he was a good friend and advisor. I really enjoyed visiting with him."
Thompson served two terms in the State Legislature, from 1962-66 under Gov. John Connally. He applied his motto "the least governed are the best governed" to all aspects of his life.
He also served on the Frank Phillips College Board of Regents. He was appointed in March of 1976 to fill an unexpired term.
"Fritz was a good asset to the Frank Phillips College Board of Regents," said George Aull, who was a regent at the time of Thompson's appointment.
"Fritz was instrumental in the selection of Gary McDaniel, who was hired as college president in the 1980s." added Aull.
Friends and family members say the greatest joys of Fritz Thompson's life, besides his family, was helping improve the highways of the Panhandle and helping bring Lake Meredith to the Panhandle. He headed the first organized effort to build the Canadian River Dam, and was a member of the Lake Meredith Water Authority.
The twin bridges that span the Canadian River on State Highway 136 three miles north of Borger were named after him. He served as president of the Canadian Flood Control Association.
He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Borger Lions Club, Borger Chamber of Commerce, and Isom Masonic Lodge.
According to Thompson's numerous friends, he helped make this community, this state, and this nation "a better place in which to live...he was a builder in the truest sense."
Survivors include his wife, Peggy of the home; a son, David Thompson of Dallas; a daughter, Betty Ann Turpin of Davis, Calif.; a brother, Albert Thompson of Hobbs, N.M.; and five grandchildren including Mark and Matt Thompson, Paul Tupin, Rebecca Riley, and John Tupin; and three great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Roy Gurley, Miles Mixon, Buster Caviness, Gary Murrow, Robert Wilson and Don Braden.
Honorary pallbearers will be the Borger Noon Lions Club.
The family requests memorials be made to a favorite charity or Fritz Thompson Scholarship at Frank Phillips College, First Presbyterian Youth Fund, Borger Noon Lions Club Fund for the Sightless and Borger Nursing Center.
(Published in the Borger News Herald, August 31, 1994)
Fritz Thompson Bridge
Fritz Thompson Park
Hutchinson County History 1876-1980
-----
Texas Death Index, 1903-2000
Name: Fritz Thompson
Death Date: 29 Aug 1994
Death County: Potter
Gender: Male
*Obituary Helen
Final rites for Helen Betty Thompson, 38, wife of Fritz Thompson and daughter of the late A.P. Borger, founder of Borger, were held at 4 p.m. yesterday in the First Presbyterian Church with the Rev. James G. Glenn, pastor, officiating.
Interment followed in Highland Park Cemetery under the direction of Minton Funeral home.
Mrs. Thompson died in a local hospital Friday morning following a lingering illness.
She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Twentieth Century Club, the Jaycee-etts, a Girl Scout Mother, and of the Huber Ladies Golf Association, and in addition, was a director of the Panhandle Women's Golf Association.
Widely known throughout the area for her work with the Girl Scouts, Mrs. Thompson also contributed no small amount of service to the community through her work as a former member of the Park Board and as a leader in home beautification.
Born in Jasper County, Missouri, August 13, 1910, she grew up in that state and was graduated from high school at Carthage, Mo., and attended Lindenwood College, a girls school, at St. Charles, Mo. She later was graduated from Southern Methodist University, Dallas. Shortly after her graduation, she was married to Fritz Thompson.
Besides her husband, she is survived by a son, David Warren, 13, and a daughter, Betty Ann, 16; one brother, Phil Borger of Borger.
Casket bearers were Weldon Jolly, George Finger, O.B. Hunt, Bob Grimes, R.E. Sharpe, Dr. Waldo Beckley, Eusie Turner, G.H. Whitlock, H.C. Marsh and E.A. Ralston.
Included among those attending the services were her husband's mother and six living brothers. The brothers and their wives attending were: Mr. and Mrs. Fred Thompson and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Thompson, Pampa; Mr. and Mrs. Claude Thompson and Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Thompson, Breckenridge; Mr. and Mrs. Grady Thompson, Hobbs, New Mexico; and Mr. and Mrs. Albert Thompson, Mr. Thompson's mother is Mrs. A.P. Thompson of Breckenridge; and Mrs. Hal C. Whitten, Oklahoma City, aunt of the deceased.
The neat little church where final rites were conducted was by far too small to accommodate the hundreds of persons in attendance. Scores stood outside the church while scores of others waited at the cemetery to pay a final tribute.
Other visitors include: Forrest Smythe, Lynn Stewart and R.C. Eberling, Phillips Petroleum Company executives from Bartlesville; M.S. Gann, Amarillo; Mr. and Mrs. H.C. Marsh, Amarillo; Mr. and Mrs. John Abbot, Fort Worth; Mr. and Mrs. A.C. Keith, Amarillo; Mr. and Mrs. J.R. McGill, Amarillo; R.W. Wood, Grady McKenzie of Fort Worth; Mrs. Charlie Young and Mrs. Eddie Moore, Amarillo.
Mr. and Mrs. W.B. Weatherred, Pampa; Postmaster George F. Vineyard, and wife, Pampa; Pampa chamber of commerce manager E.O. Chenoweth and wife; and Mr. and Mrs. Jay Bassett.
(Published in Borger News Herald, July 23, 1949)
Contributed on 9/8/21
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 455195