Constance B. “Connie” Thompson, 85 of Sedalia, passed away Friday, July 28, 2023 at Fair View Nursing Home in Sedalia.
Constance was born October 7, 1937 to a loving pair of vaudeville performers, Harold and Edith (Kiem) Banta in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She graduated from Whitefish Bay High School and went to her senior prom with Thayer “Ted” Thompson. She met him again at their 40
th
high school reunion and they were married two years later on July 5, 1997.
Like her parents, she loved music and entertaining. She was a classically trained musician with perfect pitch and shared a teacher with another Milwaukee pianist, one who was eventually known only by the name of Liberace. Recognized as one of the ten best teenage pianists in Milwaukee, she would earn a music scholarship to Lawrence College (now University) and was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. She would play piano for most of her life (with occasional vocals), including singing her children to sleep in their youth – something they have never forgotten.
Connie married the father of her three surviving children, John R. Marshall of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1959. After their fifteen-year marriage ended, they remained good friends until his passing in 2018. She then met and married Richard “Dick” Toohey of Minneapolis in 1975 where they lived until his passing in 1995. Ted Thompson passed away in 2017, having spent his last twenty years with his high school sweetheart and wife, Constance Thompson.
Survivors include three children, Christopher Marshall (Mary), Jonathan Marshall (Rena), and Jennifer Marshall (Jason); five grandchildren; and two great-granddaughters. She was preceded in death by one son, Stephen Banta Marshall.
Constance was happy right up until her passing and her family would like to thank Marianne Stocking and the staff of Fair View Nursing Home for the loving care she received in the final years of her life.
Burials will be at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Storm Lake, Iowa (Dick Toohey) and at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Ted Thompson).
Arrangements are in the care of Heckart Funeral Home.