Obituary of Graham Stanley THOMPSON

June 11, 1938 – Winnipeg, Manitoba
January 22, 2020 – Calgary, Alberta

Shortly before 4:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 22, 2020, Graham Stanley Thompson passed away suddenly, though not unexpectedly, after an extended fight with COPD.  He passed peacefully, holding hands with Lahni, his wife of fifty-nine years, and surrounded by the other much-loved ladies in his life, daughter Heather; daughter-in-law Tania; and adoptive daughter, Ley-Anne.   

While a chartered accountant by training, he was an auditor by temperament. Graham spent his life inquiring, testing, and rejecting or accepting and then cataloguing the responses he received.  This inevitably engendered dislike from the unworthy and fear from the careless, but also, typically, great respect from those who employed him.  He was logical, precise, and never shied away from rendering an unpopular but necessary opinion when required.  Those who knew him well also knew that these hard and occasionally unforgiving features were balanced by a remarkable sense of humour, and a selflessness and willingness to help whenever needed. His personality also meant that he was most happy when self-employed because, as he once remarked, the “boss” was a bit more accommodating. 
 
Graham moved with his parents and older sister from Winnipeg to Vancouver, BC, during the war, spending his 6th birthday on the rails.  His father, a railway conductor, was moved West for reasons known now only to the CPR.  For the next twelve years, the Thompson family changed addresses repeatedly, approximately every eight to ten months – though throughout this time, Graham’s father only ever worked for the one employer.  Graham occasionally remarked that while his father had one job in his adult life and his parents had many homes, Graham and Lahni had but one home and many jobs – a fact that, as it turned out, unnecessarily concerned Graham’s parents.  After graduating from high school at 16, Graham studied English for two years at university before deciding to do something somewhat more practical.  

Accordingly, he began to article as an accountant.  As the lowest and no doubt youngest man in the pecking order, he was given numerous out of city articling assignments winding up in places like the frighteningly well named Sandspit, Masset, Kitimat, Hazelton, and other hotspots of coastal and interior British Columbia.  During this time, he became the first person in the Thompson family to fly in an aircraft, and he got to drive a 6 x 6 truck (the only vehicle available and up to the task) up and down logging roads. While articling, he married his sweetheart, Leilahni Mary (nee Thomas), in 1960.

Graham completed his articles in 1962, ultimately with the firm now known as Deloitte’s and passed the three-day exam on the first try. Following the completion of his articles, Graham took his (relatively) new wife to England where he worked for Ford of England largely at the Dagenham works and, less happily, occasionally also at Slough.  The arrival of Bruce in July 1963 forced an early end to the visit to England as Graham and Lahni found it unnecessarily difficult to live in post-war England with Canadian tastes on a Sterling budget.

The family returned to Vancouver where Graham found employment with the Bay. By 1964 the family moved to Calgary, with the blessing of and at the expense of the Bay.  In 1966, Graham found new work for an oil company, which is now part of Suncor, and welcomed Heather in April.  In 1971, Graham moved onto Burns Foods Limited as the Chief Auditor, and later as the Vice President of Burns Meats Ltd.  In 1976, Graham and Burns went their separate ways and he opened his own business and for the next thirty-three years was self-employed in various capacities, though in large part as the franchisee of Robert Half, a specialist placement agency.  He sold that business back to Robert Half in 1993 and “idled” the next few years away as a house-husband while Lahni worked in Fort McMurray.

It was in Fort McMurray that Graham took on some of the most diverse tasks of his career.  He performed work as a census taker in 1996 and learned some Cree in order to do so.  In 1997 Graham found employment with Suncor as a contract auditor, which he pursued for the next eleven years, golfing in the summer and performing his mostly non-financial audits largely in the winter.  Graham and Lahni moved back to Calgary in September 2000 and he remained happily employed on a part time, contract basis until 2008 when he decided to retire permanently.  

The COPD diagnosis in July 2018 was as devastating as it was predictable, and it forced Graham to withdraw from activities that he loved so much, giving up golf being a particularly painful decision.  To his credit, and the even greater credit of his golf partners and the friends developed over a lifetime, Graham managed to stay in touch with many of those he called friends.  Their health permitting, the annual Thompson Christmas “Come and Go” remained a popular social event; and in 2019 one of the last opportunities to see him before he passed.  For those who were unable to attend, he knew that it was their concern for his health that kept people away, and he was truly appreciative of the concern of others for his health.

As a friend, Graham was steadfast and reliable.  As a husband and father, Graham loved and was loved.  He provided for, educated, and guided his family throughout his life and his children, even as teenagers, almost always accepted his advice (once they thought about it properly).   He was enormously proud of his children, and later the grandchildren he and Lahni had assumed they would probably never have.
    
As we gather to say goodbye, to paraphrase the inscription of Sir Christopher Wren, if you seek his legacy look around you.

Bruce, our son, was able to say “goodbye” on the phone from England. Our grandchildren Katie and Matthew will miss him so much. Graham will also be missed by his sister Marion McCartney; sister-in-law Linda Larson; and brother-in-law Vice Admiral C. Thomas; as well as many other relatives and friends.

Graham was predeceased by his parents, Evelyn and Stanley Thompson.

Memorial Services will be held at McINNIS & HOLLOWAY (Crowfoot, 82 Crowfoot Circle NW, Calgary, AB), on Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.  Reception to follow in the Hospitality Centre at the Funeral Home. Condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed on Graham’s obituary at www.McInnisandHolloway.com. The family would like to thank Dr. Brandie Walker and the staff at the Foothills Emergency Unit. In lieu of flowers, memorial tributes in Graham’s honour may be made directly the Alberta Herding Dog Rescue, c/o Box 21, Site 4, RR 1, Didsbury, AB, T0M 0W0 www.albertaherdingdogrescue.ca/donate.php, or to The Lung Association, Alberta & NWT, P.O. Box 4500, Station South, Edmonton, AB, T6E 6K2 1-888-566-LUNG.

A tree will be planted in living memory of Graham Thompson. McINNIS & HOLLOWAY FUNERAL HOMES, Crowfoot, 82 CROWFOOT CIRCLE NW, CALGARY, AB T3G 2T3,   Telephone: 403-241-0044.