Ohio’s longest-serving township trustee retiring
At least a couple of times a week, William “Andy” Thompson can be seen driving his gray Ford pickup along any of the rural roads in the far northwest corner of Delaware County, looking for potholes or broken signs, waving to friends and always smiling.
Thompson, 84, has been doing this for 52 years as a trustee in Thompson Township, the county’s second-smallest township, with 659 residents, according to the 2020 Census.
“This is living for him. He enjoys working in the community,” said Kent
Manley, chairman of the board of trustees and himself a trustee for 14 years.
The Ohio Township Association said Thompson is the state’s longest-serving township trustee. But on Dec. 31, Thompson is stepping down.
In an era of political extremes, attack
ads and personal ambition, Thompson’s ethic of hard work, dedication and a simple life may be contrary, he said. But it has worked for him.
“If people call me, I talk to them and try to get them what they want,” said Thompson, a life-long farmer. “I just try to get along with people.”
Thompson was first elected in 1970, the year The Beatles disbanded and Apollo 13 had to cut short its moon landing attempt due to a mechanical failure. He’s since had 13 consecutive, four-year terms, often running unopposed.
Known as the backbone of the community, Thompson conceded that he decided this would be his last term as trustee and didn’t seek reelection because, “I can’t do what I used to do.”
Rural townships have no service departments. Road repairs and mowing are done by the elected officials and volunteers. Here, in the township that bears Thompson’s name only by coincidence, that means two snow plows and some mowing equipment.
Manley recalls recently cleaning up tree debris in the township cemetery when Thompson lifted a shovel and struggled to help out.
“I remember telling him, “Don’t overdo it Andy,” Manley said. “He knows he
can’t do it the way he did. It just bothers him to no end.”
But a part of him will remain. The oldest of his four sons, William Andrew Thompson III, 63, was elected in November to fill his seat.
The elder Thompson was honored with an open house Saturday at the township hall. It included the presentation of a Delaware County commissioners proclamation.
And he probably wondered what all the fuss was about.
Thompson, who worked for 40 years at a Bfgoodrich plant in Marion County making hydraulic lines for much of the farm equipment he has used, plans to live out his life on the 70-acre farm he shares with Ruby, his wife of 67 years, and his oldest son, who will one day take over the corn and soybean fields.
Asked how he’s managed both his private and public lives so well, he shrugged. To him, it’s just normal to be decent to one another.
“We never fight. We might disagree once in a while, but we get along,” he said of the eight other trustees, four fiscal officers and six cemetery sextons he’s worked with over the years.
As for seeking a pay day for his land by selling to developers, as many farmers have done, Thompson replied: “I could never sell out. My oldest son will get this place. I plan to die here.” dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso