- Beriah "Bill" Magoffin Thompson, 94, one of Cheyenne's best storytellers and the last of the pioneer Thompson family in Cheyenne, passed away Saturday, Dec. 1.
Born May 9, 1924, Bill was one of the last World War II veterans in Cheyenne.
Bill's tales of Wyoming seemed sometimes wild and crazy, but they were all true. He lived long enough to remember them all and to pass them on.
Bill was the link between the Thompsons history in Cheyenne and Wyoming that goes back well over a century. He heard from his father and grandfather tales of cattle barons and real cowboys, rustlers, vigilantes and saloons, murders, hangings and train robberies; the Teapot Dome Scandal, the march toward Wyoming statehood and the coming of the railroad to Wild Wyoming. In his 94 years, he had firsthand experiences of Frontier Days, The Great Depression and World War II; all growing up in the Cheyenne that is today. He remembered when a man couldn't be caught outside his house in Cheyenne "without a suit and tie" or a woman "had to dress to the nines" just to go downtown. He knew many of the first settlers in these parts.
He remembered the horses and the canons being replaced by airplanes and bombs at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base just before he and his brother, juniors in high school, joined the 8th Air Force at Warren in 1943. They trained at Laredo Army Airfield in Texas and shipped out to Ipswich, England, to repair B-24s (The Liberators) and B-17s (the Flying Fortresses). While there, Bill contracted rheumatic fever and told how his identical twin, who had swapped places many times with him in their childhood, covered for him at roll call because he was too sick to make it but didn't want to get in trouble. Shortly after the war, Bill and a friend survived a car accident in Cheyenne that killed his twin brother, Bob.
Bill worked for and retired from the U.S. Postal Service in Cheyenne after 30 years. During the late 1940s, he managed the Lincoln Movie Theatre when it was really a hotspot and Hollywood stars attended premieres of movies like Cheyenne and Wyoming.
Cheyenne Frontier Days was part of Bill's life. He appeared in the parade as a 3-year-old in 1928, and again just this year when he was honored and rode in the parade as the oldest participant who had ever been in the parade. In his first parade ride, he sat in the carriage his grandparents used to come from Kentucky to Cheyenne in 1884. A real cowboy, in 1958 Bill won a silver buckle for calf roping in Cheyenne. He wore that buckle proudly.
His grandfather, John Charles Thompson, became Surveyor General of the Wyoming Territory. Bill always laughed that if his grandfather had not lost his run for the U.S. Senate by only one vote in 1890 to Francis E. Warren, the Cheyenne Air Force Base might have been named Thompson instead of Warren.
Bill's heritage includes a long line of early Scotch-Irish settlers. His ancestors include two governors of Kentucky. The first fought in the American Revolution and became Kentucky's first governor. The second was Beriah Magoffin, governor during the Civil War. Bill was named for him. Bill enjoyed teaching that history to his family.
Bill was the keeper of not only Thompson family history but also Cheyenne and Wyoming history. His newspaper collection goes back to 1884 in Cheyenne. His father, for over 40 years, was a newspaperman and editor of many precursors of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. For 12 years John Charles Thompson, Jr. wrote a daily column of Wyoming history that Bill saved. Those columns titled "Old Wyoming" still stand as what many researchers say is the best early history of the state.
Bill and his wife, Dorothy Jeannine Terman Thompson were married 32 years. They enjoyed traveling in North America and fishing. Bill was an outdoorsman and loved to fly fish. Both he and Dorothy were good at it.
Dorothy and four stepchildren survive him – Randall Stalker (Sarah) of Glenrock, Daniel Stalker (Barbara) of Sheridan, Rhonda Charmaine Stalker of Loveland, Colo., and Denise Holsopple of Westlake, Ore. He leaves four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, grand and great-grand nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his identical twin, Edward "Bob" Beierle Thompson; and brothers, John "Jack" Charles Thompson III, S. Shelby Thompson, Burton Beriah Thompson and Phillip Thompson, all who grew up in what is the historic register home at 2419 Evans St.
Beriah Magoffin Thompson went out just like a great Western man does – shoveling his driveway at the age of 94.
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