Friends of late Moniteau graduate, Marine dedicate headstone
CLAY TWP — In a ceremony nearly half a century in the making, a group of friends unveiled a newly created headstone for the late Michael S. Thompson at West Sunbury Cemetery on Sunday, Nov. 9 — two days before Veterans Day and one day before the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps.
Thompson, a Marine and graduate of nearby Moniteau High School, died Nov. 28, 1978 in a truck accident during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
One of his classmates at Moniteau, David Potsubay, still vividly remembers the shock of Thompson’s death.
“When I went to his funeral, I walked in there and there was nobody in there but his grandparents,” Potsubay said. “And I lost it. I just couldn’t believe he was gone.”
“Mike was a super guy,” said Patrick Rumbaugh, another one of Thompson’s classmates. “He always smiled and was always joking with somebody. You couldn't make Mike mad.”
Rumbaugh, who lives across the street from the cemetery, helped spearhead the project to get Thompson a headstone at West Sunbury Cemetery after he received a phone call earlier this year from their former trigonometry teacher, Rosemary Simmons. She had learned that her former pupil had been buried with just a simple plaque.
“She said, ‘I'd like to do something for Mike,’” Rumbaugh said. “She said, ‘I'd like to get a banner in town and then a headstone because he has no headstone.’ So we got together and we got this going.”
Before he set off for the Marines, Thompson was known as the “fastest man in Moniteau,” setting both school and district records as part of the Warriors’ track team.
One of his school records — a 10-second time in the 100-yard dash at a 1975 meet — will last forever, as the 100-yard dash event is no longer run in Pennsylvania high school track.
“He never ran the 100-meter, but they converted (the 100-yard time) to 11.1 seconds for the 100 meters,” Rumbaugh said. “It’s still never been broken.”
During the ceremony, Simmons read letters aloud from individuals who contributed to funding the headstone. One of them, Eric Gothe, was one of Thompson’s former track rivals from A-C Valley High School.
“Mike was a friendly soul,” Gothe wrote. “We both ran 100-yard and 200-yard dash and he always beat me. Never did he not shake my hand before the race. This went on for four years until our graduation.”
Although he never knew Thompson personally, guest speaker Sgt. Joseph Williams of the U.S. Marine Corps spoke on behalf of Thompson’s character.
“Until last month, I did not know Michael's name,” Williams said. “But there are some things that I already knew about Michael Thompson just because he was a Marine. I knew that his physical prowess ... was the result of talent and skill, but also discipline, and that discipline is what carried him to want to enlist in our elite armed forces.
“I know that he was honorable because of all the friends, the family, the mentors, the teachers that are here today. And I know that he was committed because of the work he did until his dying day to train and serve his country. Very few men can do what he did, and I'm sure with even more time on this earth, he would have done even greater things.”
The bulk of the funding for the headstone came from Lewis Stoughton, magisterial district judge and owner of Stoughton Septic in Chicora. According to Rumbaugh, Stoughton fronted $3,700 for a headstone that cost about $5,000.
“He actually wanted to pay for everything,” Rumbaugh said. “But we said no. We already had people donating.”
Thompson’s old friends are not finished paying tribute to him just yet. Both Rumbaugh and Simmons are still looking for a photo of Thompson in his Marines uniform for use on a military banner to be displayed in West Sunbury.
While there is a photo of Thompson on his new headstone, it features him in a tracksuit during his high school days and was taken from a Moniteau High School yearbook.
“That's what we need the military picture for... so we can get his banner up and celebrate him in town,” Rumbaugh said.
