Joseph Francis Thompson

Joseph Francis Thompson, M.D., age 87, entered that great infusion room in the sky on July 7, 2016, after a four-year accommodation with myelodysplastic syndrome and complications with pulmonary fibrosis. He was born on September 10, 1928 in Indianapolis, the son of Dr. Charles F. and Ila Irvene Bridge Thompson. He is survived by his wife, Ann Mansfield Huesmann Thompson. They were married on June 17, 1953. He was predeceased by a daughter, Julia Huesmann Thompson, in 1966. He is survived by four sons, John Bridge (Barbara) Thompson, Joseph Pearce (Susanne) Thompson, Samuel Tanner (Frances) Thompson, and David MacDonald (Kelli) Thompson, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He is survived by a brother, Charles B. Thompson and by a sister, Susanna Thompson Dumbrille. He was graduated from Broad Ripple High School in 1946, Indiana University in 1950 and Indiana University School of Medicine in 1953. Following an internship at Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago and an assistant residency at the Chicago Maternity Center, doing all home deliveries on the south side of Chicago during the summer of 1954, he was inducted into the United States Army Medical Corps. For ...[more]

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next two years, Joe was assigned to the Station Hospital at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, delivering over 1,000 babies in the Ob/Gyn service. He rose to the rank of captain and was honorably discharged. Following his service in the United States Army, he completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Indiana University Medical Center. After four years of private practice in Indianapolis, he enrolled in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan and received an MPH degree in Maternal and Child Health in 1966. Following this degree he joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Indiana University School of Medicine. As he progressed from Assistant to Associate to full Professor, he organized within the Department the Division of Population Dynamics and Family Planning, which became the conduit for federal family planning funds in the State of Indiana. The DPDFP ultimately became the Indiana Family Health Council. He was instrumental in initiating genetic amniocentesis for the diagnosis of fetal abnormalities at the Medical Center and organized the Gyn Outpatient Surgery Service. He was a member of the American Medical Association, its state and local affiliates, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He was the author of over 20 peer review articles published in medical journals, chapters in several medical textbooks and a frequent presenter at local and national medical meetings. Among his proudest professional moments were presentations at the national meetings of the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, �"The German Measles Epidemic in Indiana,” �"Prematurity and Perinatal Mortality in the State of Indiana,” �"Amniocentesis for the Diagnosis of Genetic Abnormalities” and �"The In Situ IUD and Pregnancy.” During his lifetime, among other things, he was Scout Master of Troop 440, made a lot of wine, built a lot of furniture, cross-stitched numerous table linens and rugs, and knitted and decorated a lot of sweaters for himself, his wife, children and grandchildren. He and his wife made numerous trips to Europe, skied frequently in Canada and vacationed in the Southwest. He was the author of a history of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (�"This Important Trust”), a history of Planned Parenthood of Central Indiana (�"The Faithful Few”), and co-author of a history of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, teaching in its Sunday School, being on its vestry, ushering at the early service, and being a Lay Eucharistic Minister. Following retirement in 1993, the Thompson family spent 4 to 5 months of the year on Drummond Island, Michigan, where he was an avid gardener. They were members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in DeTour Village, Michigan, where he served as Clerk/Treasurer until 2010.