Dr. Albert W. Thompson; Retired Physician

Dr. Albert Wesley Thompson, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who delivered an estimated 6,500 babies during his 31 years at Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center, has died at the hospital. He was 71.

A resident of Palmdale, Thompson died Dec. 11 of complications of a stroke, said his wife, Bobbi Thompson.

Born in Everett, Wash., Thompson graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1943 and received his doctor of medicine degree from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago in 1947. He interned at Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago and completed his residency at Duke University and the University of Kansas Medical Center. During the Korean War, Thompson served in the U.S. Army as assistant chief of obstetrics and gynecology at the Fort Leavenworth Army Hospital in Kansas.

He was a charter staff member of the Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center when it opened in 1955, secretary of the hospital’s medical staff in 1966 and a member of the medical staff’s executive committee in 1963, 1965 to ’67 and in 1971. He served as chairman of the medical staff’s obstetrics and gynecology committee for 10 years and was chairman of the Pediatric and Therapeutic Abortion Committee from 1961 to 1964. He retired in 1986.

Thompson was also a member of the Elks Lodge and Kiwanis Club in the Antelope Valley.

In addition to his wife of 44 years, Thompson is survived by his sons, Scott Thompson of Palmdale, Dr. Kent Thompson of Irvine and Dr. Greg Thompson of Ocala, Fla.; daughters Doryl Young of Dana Point and Terri Thompson of Irvine; brother Victor Thompson of Gainesville, Fla., and four grandchildren.

A funeral is planned for 11 a.m. today at the United Methodist Church, 918 W. Avenue J in Lancaster. Burial will follow at Joshua Memorial Park in Lancaster. Mumaw Funeral Home in Lancaster is handling the arrangements. Donations can be made to the Dr. A. W. Thompson Memorial Fund of the Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center Gift Foundation, 1600 W. Avenue J, Lancaster 93534.