OBSERVER STAFF REPORT

When he walked around the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento people thought he was “the Mayor” of the high-profile community. He always walked briskly and wore a smile. He spoke to everyone. And, everyone greeted him back.

Businessman Vincent Theodore Thompson of Thompson’s Funeral Home passes.

He was Vincent Theodore “Ted” Thompson, one of only two well-known African American morticians in the Capital City. He loved it when people would ask him “how was business.” He would warmly grin and say, in a deep voice, “dead.”

Thompson was more than just a businessman running a mortuary. He was a mentor, a politician and a community leader. He loved people. And people loved him.

Thompson was a also a musician extraordinaire. As they say in the music business: “he played with some of the best,” including Count Basie, the Ellington Band, Billie Holiday, the Teddy Hills Band, The Kansas City Sound, and so many others.

Thompson lived multiple lives - all very successfully.

After his first wife, Beatrice, died - with whom he was married 35 years - Thompson married again. He wedded his second wife, Eugenia, in 1991. They, too, had a happy marriage.

Thompson was born on July 1, 1919 in Newark, New Jersey His parents were the late Nancy Evelyn and Robert Daniel Thompson.

“Teddy,” as they affectionately dubbed him, was their second child and only son.
When Thompson was very young, his family relocated to New York City where he grew up. When just a small boy, Thompson’s mom insisted that he learn to play an instrument and she personally taught him to play the saxophone.

She also insisted that her children perform for the many command performances at the West Indian Cultural Club, known as the “Sons and Daughters of St. Christopher,” where Thompson, accompanied by his sister Roslyn, learned to perfect his musical genius.

Educated in the New York public schools, Thompson graduated from the Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and, at the tender age of 16, from DeWitt Clinton High School.

After completing his college studies to become a pharmacist and having apprenticed for a brief period at a drug store, Thompson determined that the prescription for his life did not include his swallowing the bitter pill of that profession.

Instead, upon reaching the age of 21, Thompson followed the popular adage: “go west young man.”

It is said that with just $21 “and a bag of oranges,” Thompson moved to Sacramento to embark upon the rest of his life’s journey. The year was the unforgettable 1941.
With the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor the same year, the United States was thrust into World War II. The country’s state-side military installations became bustling centers of productivity demanding the cream of the nation’s raw material and the best of the labor market.

McClellan Air Force Base, here in Sacramento, the major West Coast Air Base and Supply Station, was recruiting skilled workers from across the nation. Thompson was one of thousands of workers they hired.

In an exclusive interview in THE OBSERVER’s “Long Look Back” Special Edition, in 1973, Thompson shared that finding housing is Sacramento in the ‘40s was a challenge. He ultimately found housing in the lower-end “or the west-end” of the city. The “west-end” area, according to Thompson, extended from Front Street near the river to Sixth Street. A large number of Blacks lived in this portion of town. This lower-end was the actual “birth place of Sacramento.” Situated next to the river, the lower-end gave one easy access to that day’s mode of transportation, when the main highways were still the area’s waterways.

Gradually, with the introduction of reliable street-car transportation, many residents began to move to more distant settlements leaving the lower-end to the elderly and others who could only afford the low rents. Most Blacks in Sacramento during this period because of racial bias had little choice but to live near the west-end of the city.

Thompson said in his OBSERVER interview, that “the west-end was a pleasant place to live and the people all were very desirable.”

It was not, Thompson recalled, until the war started to draw to an end and the population began to increase noticeably, that the “quality” of life in the lower-end began to deteriorate. Nonetheless, Thompson loved Sacramento. It was nearly a year and a half after his arrival before he was able to purchase a home.

“I was here about four months before I even went out house hunting,” Thompson said.

“I looked at 126 houses,” he said seriously, “before I found one that the owner was willing to sell to me,” Thompson shared in his interview.

Gas was rationed, which meant that most of his house hunting was done on foot. At times, Thompson recalled, he experienced an almost overwhelmingly sense of discouragement, but he “stuck it out,” and eventually was able to buy a home on Santa Cruz Way in the growing Oak Park neighborhood.

“At that time,” Thompson said, “there were only three streets in Oak Park with any substantial number of Black residents. They were 38th Street, between 4th Ave. and 3rd Ave., Bigler Way and 42nd Street.”

“Oak Park was a community of friendly working people,” recalled Thompson. “It also could boast one of the only community shopping centers, besides the downtown one.”

Residents during this period of time could enjoy the convenience of shopping in Oak Park on 35th Street.

“All within walking distance of their homes,” said Thompson about the area. “There was some discrimination. However, Oak Park can be credited with giving several of our young men their very first job opportunities.”

In 1945, Thompson decided to leave McClellan. He wanted to become a mortician.
Thompson enrolled in a San Francisco Academy to study Mortuary Science. In order to support himself through the Academy, Thompson played his saxophone on weekends at the popular MoMo and Zanzibar Clubs in Sacramento’s west-end.

During this time Thompson landed a job at the State Printing Office. While employed there, he completed his mortuary science schooling and became a part-time mortician under the watchful eye of an established funeral director. In 1947, Thompson became a licensed embalmer.

The next year, in 1948, he opened Thompson’s Funeral Home, at 1411 Seventh Street. For 16 years, he remained the only Black licensed embalmer in Sacramento County, and Thompson’s Funeral Home remained a successful mortuary at its location downtown on Seventh Street.

In 1957, Thompson was forced to move, giving up his site for a state parking lot. He relocated to the present site of Thompson’s Funeral Home on Fifth Avenue in Oak Park.
At its new location, Thompson built a strikingly new building from the ground up. He called it “Rose Chapel.” It was, in fact, only the third Black funeral establishment in the State of California to complete such a comprehensive building project.

He loved his business and his profession. In his capacity he consoled hundreds and hundreds of families in their moments of grief and sorrow. He was also very active in the professional development of his industry statewide. In 1982, Thompson was, in fact, elected the very first Black to ever become president of the California Funeral Directors’ Association.

Thompson also enjoyed community service. He was a founding member of the Oak Park Community Council. He was a steadfast supporter of youth activities. His church membership was with the Oak Park United Methodist Church, where he was a member from 1949.

Officially, Thompson retired in 1987. He was named by The OBSERVER Newspapers one of the city’s 40 “African American Legends of Sacramento” in 2002.

On June 28, 2006, God, in His infinite wisdom and compassion called Vincent “Ted” Thompson home to glory.

He was pre-deceased by his parents, his elder sister Roslyn and his wife Beatrice.
Left to cherish the many wonderful memories of Thompson’s extraordinary life are his beloved wife, Eugenia, their five children, 20 grand and great grandchildren, a goddaughter, two nieces, a nephew and a host of cousins, other relatives and many, many friends and associates.