Carol M. Thompson

Carol M. Thompson, 81, of Albuquerque, New Mexico died Sunday, November 15, 2020. She was born June 10, 1939 to Albert M. murphy and Susan Elizabeth McClain Murphy in Twin Falls, Idaho.

She attended schools in Twin Falls, Graduating with the class of 1957. She graduated with a BA degree in Anthropology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1961, and did graduate studies in Anthropology at the London School of Economics from 1961 to 1964. Carol was a visiting lecturer at Utah State University for a short period at the beginning her work with the Bureau of Indian affairs in 1965 as a teacher at Lake Valley, New Mexico, and later at Ft. Wingate. She was married to Donald W. Thompson in Gallup, New Mexico in 1969. In 1978

Carol and her husband Don moved to Albuquerque where she was employed as Archeologist and Technical Editor with the Bureau of Land Management. The group she worked with were involved with environmental impact statements for proposed strip mining in the four corners region. In 1982 she became a Technical Editor at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirkland AFB, and retired from the office of aerospace studies in 1998.

Carol was a long-time patron of several cultural, historical, and environmental organizations in New Mexico and elsewhere. She continued research that had been done by her mother and other family members on the historical records of her family lines, who included some of America’s early settlers from the British Isles. She and her husband had traveled extensively gathering information about their families and the history of their times.

Carol is lovingly remembered by her husband, Donald, of fifty plus years; her two Murphy descended nieces who are daughters of her late brother Dr. Richard Murphy; and many surviving cousins, other friends of many years in America and England.

Her earthly remains will join those of family and friends in her native state of Idaho. Her tragic ending sadly came from unintended medical errors that followed the surgical removal of a small breast cancer twenty years ago. A memorial observance will be held at the White Funeral Chapel in Twin Falls, Idaho with interment at Twin Falls Memorial Park.

Memorials may be made to the Museum of Albuquerque, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology or The Archaeological Conservancy.