Jesse Wayne Thompson of, Los Osos, CA, passed away in his sleep at his home on January 18, 2026. He was 96 years old.
Jesse was born in October 1929 in Taft, California, to the late Jesse and Trilby Thompson. He had one sister, Eunice, whom he adored, who passed away in 2005 at 77 years old. They grew up during the depression and were very close. Some of his best memories were going to Avenal High School, where he graduated in 1946. He was probably the strongest man in his high school. He was an all-star at Avenal High School. He loved watching sports, especially boxing, football, and basketball.
He then went on to San Jose State, where he got his degree in architecture. He was a huge sports fan and was very good at ALL of them himself. He could name all the pro or college players on all the teams and knew what all their stats were. He loved fishing but hated eating fish. When he wasn’t playing sports or watching sports, he watched westerns on TV. He loved all the old west stars like John Wayne, Randolf Scott, Audie Murphy, Glenn Ford, Gary Cooper, and so on.
He absolutely adored his mother and father and did everything he could to help them. He designed and built the garage and “little house” for his mother and dad on Woodland Drive.
After graduating from College, he was hired at Autonetics and North American Rockwell (where he retired after 40 years) as a mechanical engineer, where he worked on the Apollo missions and even designed part of the Apollo Spacecraft that took our astronauts to the moon in the 1960s. This is where he met and married Joan Carita Kripal. They had one son together, Mark Thompson. They divorced a few years later, and he went on to marry Sara Greenleaf and became stepfather to her son, Michael. Michael loved and adored Wayne, and Wayne always treated Michael as if he were his own.
Jesse and Sara had one son together, Douglas Thompson. Douglas grew up and married Patricia Aiken, with whom he had four Children. One of the significant highlights of Wayne’s life was spending summers in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, with his grandkids. There wasn’t much that gave him more pleasure than the time he spent with his grandkids. Wayne and Sara stayed married for over 60 years. In 1973, he purchased the Travel Lodge in San Luis Obispo, which he and Sara operated for over 20 years. During this time, he bought a house in Sunset Terrace in Los Osos. It was his wish to live there until he breathed his last breath. And thanks to his sons, he got his wish.
He was predeceased by his stepson, Michael Thompson. He leaves behind two sons, Mark Thompson of Ridgecrest, California, and daughter-in-law, Melody, and his step-granddaughter Emily, and Douglas Thompson of Orange, California, his daughter-in-law, Patricia, and four grandchildren (Peyton, Victoria, Peter, and Jack).
Services will be held at Los Osos Valley Mortuary & Memorial Park on the January 26 at 11 a.m.
