June E. (Ring) Thompson

June Elizabeth (Ring) Thompson, 94, at 7 PM on March 25, 2019, passed quietly into her Savior’s arms with her family around her singing “Amazing Grace”, a favorite hymn of hers. She lived in Mecca, Ohio, formerly in Kingsville, Boardman, and Conneaut.

She was born on June 29, 1924 in Conneaut, Ohio, the first child of 9 for Leonarda and Milton A. Ring They owned a dairy and fruit orchard farm with which she helped. She loved her Jersey cows and even took time out of college to come home and care for them when the male farm hands went off to war.

During her high school years Miss Ring won awards in science and agriculture which at the time were usually only awarded to boys. She graduated from Rowe High School in 1942 and from THE Ohio State in 1951 with a BS in Home Economics. She married Gilbert J. Thompson, DVM on December 26, 1950 and worked alongside him in his practice. They were a great team, working with animals, and they even de-scented skunks together, which most vets would not do. They had 5 children, stayed in Conneaut until about 1966 and then moved to Boardman.

Education of children was very important to June which led her into teaching elementary and high school and working with World Book Encyclopedia.  She also tutored her kids, grandkids, and inner-city children.  She always loved and cared for her family and encouraged them to strive for excellence in becoming who they were each meant to be. She also inspired in them her work ethic as she led by example, by assigning chores, and by encouraging them to do little things to earn money. For example, they earned pennies for each fly they swatted (2 pennies for each one swatted inside and 1 for each swatted outside).

June loved the outdoors, gardening, and camping. She always had a vegetable garden, but enjoyed flowers as well, and was addicted to pulling weeds! She became a Master Gardener after going through a program at Mill Creek Park and then worked in the gardening dept. at Walmart keeping the at-risk plants alive.

Camping was essential to her. Whenever she felt stressed and over-worked she would get the urge to go to “the cabin” in the Allegheny Mountains and relax in the woods. The family had many fun moments there—singing around the campfire, cooking and heating with a wood stove, tobogganing, looking out for porcupines, finding animal tracks at the pond, catching newts, hiking through the woods, “showering” in the clear, brisk spring water.. Good times!

Other interests and talents included singing, piano playing, crafts, sewing and making interesting foods like goat-milk fudge, butter, sauerbrauten, sauerkraut, friendship bread, sourdough bread (all kinds of cultured goodies), her special pineapple salad, cream cheese tarts and so on. With her sewing expertise she clothed her family smartly, often in matching outfits!

June loved the Lord. She was involved in evangelistic activities as a young woman and as a mother she made sure her family attended church together. It has always been her priority to encourage her children and grandchildren to love and serve Jesus Christ. She was so proud of her son Maxwell and daughter-in-law Debbie and their daughter Lydia and son-in-law Everaldo for giving up their normal lives to serve the Lord as Missionaries in Africa. Most recently June belonged to First Baptist Church of Kingsville. Before that, while residing in Boardman, she was a member of First Covenant. She was actively involved as long as she was able.

At the end of her life, June was cared for by her family members, making her home in Mecca with Amy and Tom and her precious cats. She stayed busy around the house up until a few months before her death. People called her the Energizer Bunny because of her energy and persistence. She just kept going and going.

June is survived by her children Deborah (Charles) Teleha, Amy (Thomas) Calladine, Maxwell (Debra) Thompson, Mark (Rosemarie) Thompson, Jay (Martha) Thompson and by two sisters Bess Koval and Rachel (James) Speer and her brother Richard (Joan) Ring and 23 grandchildren and several great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Gilbert, grandson Nicholas Thompson, sisters Mary Bunnell and Jane Rhodes, and her brothers Paul, Milton, and Loren Ring.

Special thanks go to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren for their patience, grace, and compassion in helping June and her family through this difficult time and to all the pastors and friends for their prayers and support.

The funeral service will be 11:00 AM Saturday March 30 at Marcy Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 208 Liberty St., Conneaut, Ohio with Rev. David Hines officiating. Family will receive friends from 10:00 AM until time of service at the funeral home. Please sign the guestbook in memory of June at www.marcyfuneralhome.com. If desired, donations can be made at the funeral for Church of God World Missions for Maxwell and Debra Thompson or for Lydia and Everaldo Nascimento, or to First Baptist Church of Kingsville.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of June E. (Ring) Thompson, please visit our floral store.