Mother of Racing Great, Ex-Mayor in O.C. Dies at 96
Geneva Clairissa Thompson, mother of the late auto racing driver and promoter Mickey Thompson and San Juan Capistrano council member Collene Thompson Campbell, died Friday at her home of natural causes, her family said. She was 96.
Born July 4, 1899, in Galena, Kan., she spent most of her life in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel with her husband, Marion, a captain on the Alhambra police force and former chief of detectives who died in 1967. At the time of her death, she lived in San Juan Capistrano.
The couple had two children, daughter Collene, a former mayor of San Juan Capistrano, and son Mickey, who set dozens of speed records and was the first human to break the 400-m.p.h. barrier on land.
Mickey Thompson and his wife, Trudy, were murdered in 1988. The crime has never been solved and is still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A funeral for Geneva Thompson will be held Tuesday in Whittier.
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