John Nevin Thompson of Groveland, FL passed away on April 24 at the age of 93 at the Mike Conley Hospice House. Nevin was born to John N. and Wilma (Westlake) Thompson in Bozeman, Montana, June 26, 1932. At that time his father was a high school teacher and administrator in Broadus, Montana. The family later left Broadus as his dad took teaching positions in Hardin and then Moore, Montana. The family returned to Bozeman in 1947 where Nevin graduated from Gallatin High School and Montana State College (now Montana State University). These years were formative in making him a lifelong Montanan wherever he may be. He traveled east where he graduated from Northwestern University dental school in Chicago. It was in Chicago where, as he often said, he met “a cute little blond” named Norma Schmid who was attending Wesley Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. They married in June of 1957 after each had graduated and began their married life together in Tucson, AZ near Davis-Monthan Air Force base where Nevin was stationed as a dental officer. He often said he was captain of the “drill team”.

After completing his active duty Air Force service in 1959, they returned to Nevin’s hometown of Bozeman where Nancy and John were born. An opportunity to take over a dental practice arose in 1964 and the family of four moved to the wide-open plains of the Montana “Highline” and the community of Wolf Point where Charlotte was born. The family lived in Wolf Point until 1973 when Nevin returned to school at Loyola University in Chicago, IL where he earned his Masters in Oral Biology and a specialty certificate in Orthodontics in 1975. Leaving what he once described as a “lemming-like existence” in the greater Chicago area, the family moved to Winter Park, FL where he practiced orthodontics with offices in Orlando and Winter Garden until his retirement in 1995. They have lived the past 39 years in Groveland.

Nevin and Norma had an active retirement with frequent trips in their camper throughout the US visiting family, friends, state and national parks and researching family genealogy, while managing to throw in European adventures also. Nevin was an avid biker (bicycle and motorcycle), hiker, nature photographer, and birdwatcher. Nature was his happy place. He was also active in his community where he played clarinet at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church (at least until his arthritis got too bad), Kiwanis Club, and lake watch monitoring water quality on Lake Emma.

Nevin was predeceased by his parents and brother Gordon Elliott and sister-in-law Kathy (Graf) Thompson. Surviving family are wife Norma Schmid Thompson of the family home, son John Thompson (Julie) of Bellingham, WA, daughters Nancy Henkelman of Burnsville, NC, and Charlotte (Rich) Hoerlein of Auburn, AL. He is also survived by grandchildren John Henkelman (Shalimar DeBusk), Daniel Henkelman (Kelly Schindler), Andrew Henkelman, Jack Thompson (Britta Fast), Laura Thompson, Kathryn Eckhardt (Chris), Ben Hoerlein (Caroline) and Richard Hoerlein (Lyndsey Berry). Great grandchildren Elliot and Diana Henkelman, Eleanor Thompson-Fast, Ezra Hoerlein, and Emma Eckhardt.

A memorial service will be held at a later date at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Clermont, Florida. In leu of flowers, he would have liked to encourage everyone to be kind.