Lawrence Thompson (1911-1973) was an American humor columnist and newspaper reporter for 28 years with '' The Miami Herald'', until his death in 1973.

Early years

Thompson grew up in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he began a newspaper career that would span almost a half-century. After graduating from Oklahoma A. & M. College (now Oklahoma State University), he worked on newspapers throughout the United States as a reporter, including the

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

. In his early days, he was known as "Scoop" Thompson. He came to work for The Miami Herald in 1945 as a general assignment reporter. Within a few years, Thompson was writing a daily humor column, called "Life With Larry Thompson," which ran in the Comics Section of The Miami Herald for more than two decades. Following his death, the Associated Press described Thompson's column as "down-home humor" that was "one of the first items read over morning coffee by hundreds of thousands of Herald subscribers." In 1953 Thompson married aviator Gladys "Penny" Rhodes, after interviewing her for a story about women pilots and her involvement promoting international women’s air races in South Florida. On April Fool’s Day, 1954, they had twins, Carl and Evellen, receiving national publicity in

Life Magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

. In 1965 the Dale Carnegie Alumni Association awarded Thompson the Good Human Relations Award.

Author

Thompson wrote three books. The first was about the family's Siamese cat, "Life With Caesar." The second book was "Hogs Under My Bed" which chronicled the family’s camping trip one summer through Florida, including one night when wild pigs slept under the Thompson’s tent trailer during a rain storm, hence the title. The third book, "Life With Larry Thompson," a collection of Thompson’s most popular columns, was published posthumously in 1975. Thompson's columns, especially tales of his family's cross-country camping trips each summer, were often reprinted in newspapers throughout America and in the

United States Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...

Death and legacy

On February 18, 1973 at the age of 61, Thompson died of

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

. Thompson’s wife, Penny, died at 57 from acute leukemia in 1975. The Metro Dade County Commission voted to name a 270-acre park/campground in their honor --- the Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park located in Miami next to Zoo Miami. In 2012, son Carl Thompson donated Larry Thompson's typewriter used to write his columns along with photographs and other family memorabilia to the campground at the 35th anniversary of the park's dedication. These are on permanent display in the campground office. In 2015, Thompson was inducted into the Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame.Humor Columnist, Larry Thompson, Inducted into Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame
at Editor and Publisher; published July 24, 2015; retrieved August 11, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Larry 1973 deaths Deaths from emphysema American columnists American humorists People from Stillwater, Oklahoma Miami Herald people 1911 births 20th-century American non-fiction writers