| Gale Thomson | |
|---|---|
| First Lady of New Hampshire | |
| In office January 4, 1973 – January 4, 1979 |
|
| Preceded by | Dorothy Peterson |
| Succeeded by | Irene Gallen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1919 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died | March 8, 2010 Orford, New Hampshire |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Meldrim Thomson, Jr. |
| Children | 6 children |
Anne Gale Kelly Thomson (1919 - March 8, 2010) was the First Lady of New Hampshire from 1973 until 1979, and the widow of former Governor Meldrim Thomson, Jr.[1]
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Thomson was born Anne Gale Kelly[2] in Brooklyn, New York, in 1919.[1] She was the oldest child of parents William and Anne Kelly.[2] She graduated from high school two years early and took a position with the Edward Thompson Law Book Company, a law publishing company in Brooklyn.[2]
Kelly met her future husband, Meldrim Thomson, Jr., while she was working as a secretary at the Edward Thompson Law Book Company.[1][2] The couple married in 1938 and had six children during their marriage - Peter, David, Thomas, Marion, Janet, and Robb.[1][2] The family initially resided in Brooklyn and Stony Brook, New York.[2]
In 1954, Thomson and her husband decided not to raise their family in New York.[1] They moved with their six children to the Mt. Cube Farm, a 19th Century farmhouse in Orford, New Hampshire, in the fall of 1954,[2] where Thomson and her husband lived for the rest of her life.[1][3][4]
Thomson became the First Lady of New Hampshire in 1973 when her husband took office. She was known to entertain guests with pancakes served with maple syrup collected at her Mt. Cube Farm in Orford.[1][2] She remained First Lady until they moved out of Bridges House in 1979.[1] Her husband, Meldrim Thomson, died in 2001.[1]
During her later life, Thomson ran a maple syrup business based out of her farmhouse in Orford.[4] She served as a trustee of the Youth Development Center, the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, and the Vermont-New Hampshire Visiting Nurse Alliance.[2] She was also a member of the New Hampshire Lilac Commission.[2]
Thomson endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for U.S. President during the 2008 Republican presidential primaries.[3]
Gale Thomson died of congestive heart failure at her home at the Mt. Cube family farm in Orford, New Hampshire, at 8:15 p.m. on March 8, 2010, at the age of 90.[3] March 8th would have been her husband's 98th birthday.[3] She was survived by her six children, eighteen grandchildren and twenty-eight great-grandchildren.[2] New Hampshire Governor John Lynch ordered all state flags lowered to half-staff in her honor.[5] Her funeral was held at the Baker River Bible Church in Wentworth, New Hampshire, on March 13, 2010.[1]
Tributes poured in for Thomson, who remained politically active in her later life. Governor John Lynch called her "a warm and caring individual who will truly be missed."[1] Former Governor John Sununu, who worked closely with both Thomsons, stated, "She was the classic example of the phrase ‘Behind every great man is an even greater woman."[1]