Harry Eugene (Gene) Thompson

Gene Thompson, 88, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and brother, peacefully left this life on October 8, 2026, after a courageous battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He was surrounded by his children and beloved sweetheart. Though initially given only one to two months to live, he fought bravely for 16 months. He is our hero.

Harry Eugene Thompson was born in Park City, Utah on June 21, 1938, to William Joseph and Agnes Miller Thompson. His dad was a silver miner in Park City at the time. Gene was the 2nd of 5 children. The family later moved to the Salt Lake valley, where he attended elementary school in Murray, until their family moved to Midvale where he attended Midvale Elementary, Midvale Jr. High and Jordan High School. He joined the U.S. Army Reserves in 1958 and served until 1964. Gene met his eternal companion, Sharon Butterfield, through dad’s good friend Lynn Green who was Sharon’s cousin. Gene and Sharon were married in the Salt Lake Temple on March 2, 1959; they recently celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. They are the proud parents of 5 children, William Eugene (Sandra) Thompson, KayLee Gibbs (Kenneth), LoriAnn Smith, SheriAnn (LoriAnn’s twin sister who died during childbirth), and JodyLyn (Scott) Gadsden. They moved into their Midvale home in 1964, where they lived for 62 years.

Gene developed a lifelong love of the outdoors through camping, hunting, and fishing. He often recalled when he was a young boy loading the family car after work on Friday afternoons and setting out for a new mountain adventure nearly every weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day. He treasured memories of hunting and fishing in Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah and carried those traditions throughout his life. In 1985, he bought a boat and enjoyed sharing it with family, friends, and the youth in his ward. In recent years, one of his greatest joys was fishing with four generations of his family—his son, grandsons, and great-grandsons.

Gene started working with his dad as a teenager in the heating and air conditioning trade at the family business, Thompson and Sons Heating and Air Conditioning Company. After his dad’s retirement, he went on to build a highly successful business, enough that in 1997, it was acquired by the largest heating and air conditioning company in the country at the time. His son Bill has continued that legacy, so now the Thompson heating and air conditioning tradition is in its’ 4th generation.

He is a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He served faithfully in many callings throughout his life including serving in 2 bishoprics, a stake high councilman, Elder’s Quorum President, and an inner-city missionary with his wife.

Gene is a servant at heart. After his retirement, he spent his life helping his kids, grandkids, and sister with projects around their homes. It seemed that he could do just about anything whether it was carpentry, painting, tiling, landscaping, plumbing, electrical and of course anything related to heating and air conditioning or sheet metal.

Gene is preceded in death by his parents (Bill and Agnes), 2 brothers (John and Fred), his daughter SheriAnn, and his grandson Austin Smith. He is survived by his eternal companion Sharon, his 4 children: Bill, Kay, Lori and Jody, 13 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

Visitation will be held Saturday, October 17, 2026 from 9:30 am-10:45 am with funeral services following at 11 am at the Midvale 7th Ward Meetinghouse, 8350 S. Jackson Street (260 W.), Midvale, UT, 84047.

Interment will follow at Midvale City Cemetery, 471 W. 6th Avenue, Midvale, UT.

The family would like to express gratitude and appreciation to the doctors and nurses at the LDS Hospital Loveland Clinic for their kindness and loving care these past 16 months.