January 04, 1935 - June 08, 2017
David Albert Thomasson Obituary
Today our loving father passed on to be with the Lord. We celebrate this blessing, we celebrate his life. He will be deeply missed.
Dad was a beloved father, grandfather, great grandfather, husband, son, brother and uncle. Dad was born in Akron, OH and grew up there in the house that his dad built. He loved going down to the train station as a kid and watching the powerful steam locomotives puff their way up and down the tracks.
He attended Buchtel High School and met the first love of his life, a 1950 Oldsmobile hardtop. She was all dressed up in chrome. He graduated from Buchtel in 1952 and thought hed follow in the footsteps of Gene Autry and Fred Astaire and so he hopped on the train to the Big Apple and busted out some moves. Well, that was short-lived. Dad went on to study some undergrad courses at Miami of Ohio and transferred to Kent State where he joined the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, made lifelong friendships, competed on the swim team and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Dad had a vision to fly so he enlisted in the US Navy and earned his wings. He was on assignment at Alameda Naval Air Station in California piloting PV2 Neptunes when he met the true love of his life, Susanne Irene Stout. Mom captured his heart and she knew it when dad would fly by their San Francisco Bay penthouse apartment and tip his wings at her over the bay. They soon tied the knot. The newlyweds moved to Los Angeles and dad was accepted into Art Center College of Design to study Industrial Design. He spent his free time diving for Abalone in the Pacific with his uncle, Jerry. Dad graduated with a design degree and Ford Motor Company recruited the young talent to help shape the cars of the future for the Blue Oval. This move landed mom and dad in Michigan where dad would work for the next 30 years for Ford at the Dearborn Design Headquarters. Dads life was truly occupied with planes, trains and automobiles and now he and mom added three children and things got busy.
Dad was a devoted father and taught us many things like snorkeling and scuba diving, gardening, camping and snow fort building, drawing and art projects and of course all about planes, trains and automobiles. We once grew the biggest pumpkins in the county and tapped dozens of sugar maple trees of which we collected and rendered the sweet sap into delicious maple syrup that was sealed in mason jars adorned with dads Thomassons Maple Syrup labels.
Dad retired from the Navy Reserves (22 years) as a Lieutenant Commander and from Ford (30 years) as a Senior Designer and took his bride to Chattaroy, WA to build their dream home. Immediately upon completion of the house, the train layout began to take over the lower level. Dad spent 20 years creating his labor of love and those who have seen it are astounded. Mom and dad spent many years enjoying their home, their children and grandchildren and dad with his trains and in 2007 mom passed on to be with the Lord. So what did dad do? Well, he bought a plane of course! He built a climate controlled hangar to house the wings and he could take off and land in his own backyard. One of his favorite outings was to hop in, warm up, all systems check, clear for take-off and beeline over to Deer Park airport for a smooth landing followed by the Spokesman Review, coffee and doughnuts.
Dad believed the Gospel, we trust in that. He will now soar on angels wings. We love you, dad; we will join you in the perfect place where we will praise our perfect Creator.
A graveside service will be held on Friday, June 16th at 4:30pm at Greenwood Memorial Terrace, followed by a gathering at Davids home. Davids wishes are to have donations in his memory to go the Humane Society at 6607 N. Havana St. or PO Box 6247 Spokane, WA 99217.
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