Thompson, former Herald owner, dies

SANDPOINT — Happiest in North Idaho’s woods and lakes, Pete Thompson wasn’t one to sit still.

From his early days on a farm in North Dakota working for his room and board to building a thriving printing and newspaper business from scratch, Thompson had a passion for hard work, his community, his family and the outdoors.

As a result, he could be found doing everything from having breakfast with county commissioners to set them straight, heading into the hills with family for a week of hunting, or diving into the Sandpoint Lions Club’s latest project.

Thompson, 89, died Sunday, June 2, at his home in Ponderay.

Duane Hagadone, who would buy Thompson’s newspapers in Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, Priest River, and Post Falls, as well as the Pend Oreille Printers print shop, recalled Thompson as “an absolute gentleman and a friend.”

“I have the greatest respect for Pete Thompson, a true newspaperman who was dedicated to his community for many years,” Hagadone said. “I was honored that he sold his newspapers to us.”

Raised on a farm outside Fargo, North Dakota, Thompson learned the value of hard work and the power of community. After working on the farm, Thompson got a job as a printer’s devil — an apprentice in the printing industry — working for several print shops in the area.

Thompson would meet his future wife, Adell, in Enderlin, North Dakota, in his teens. After the couple married, they both ended up working for a weekly newspaper in New Rockford, North Dakota. “Kind of an independent guy,” said his son, Jim Thompson. Jim, who served as publisher of the Coeur d’Alene Press for 22 years, recalled that his dad soon left the paper to start his own printing company.

While the endeavor failed, that entrepreneurial spirit would soon come to the forefront again when the couple and their young family moved from North Dakota to North Idaho.

“I remember him picking up the Encyclopedia Brittanica and pointing out a place in North Idaho and said, ‘That’s where we’re moving,’ “ Jim Thompson said.

Initially, Pete Thompson got a job in a print shop in Coeur d’Alene. A labor dispute put an early end to that so Thompson made his way to Sandpoint where he went to work for Eclipse Printery, which owned a weekly, the Sandpoint News-Bulletin. However, it wouldn’t be long before Thompson would again would strike out on his own, first with a partner at a small print shop in Sandpoint and then on his own when the partner didn’t agree with Pete’s vision for a daily newspaper.

Pretty soon, Pete and Adell acquired sole operation of the print shop and launched The Bee Hive with free five-day-a-week delivery through a network of carriers.

A hard worker, Pete Thompson would pass those lessons on to his children. All seven of the boys would work for the print shop and the newspaper in some capacity. With the business, they taught them how to work and taught them a profession — two key things they wanted for their children.

They also instilled in their children their own strong sense of community.

“They were huge believers in giving a voice to the community,” Jim Thompson said. “They had strong support all the day long for civic organizations and giving back to the community.”

For Pete, that commitment found an outlet in the Sandpoint Lions Club, which was the heart of the Sandpoint community in those days. From helping build Sandpoint City Beach to the Fourth of July activities to putting flags out at different points in the year, Thompson could be found in the middle, helping out, lending his voice and support.

Beyond his success in the printing and newspaper industry, Thompson’s voice was one who drew attention in business circles — and political ones. The newspaperman was named to several important posts, including an 11-year tenure on the Idaho Fish & Game Commission, where he served as chairman for two years, an appointment to the Idaho Housing Agency, and being elected president of the Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club, Bonner County Sportsman Association and Bonner County Historical Society. Further honors included receiving the Gar Anderson Sportsman of the Year Award and the dedication of the Pete Thompson Cabinet Gorge Fish Hatchery.

He would join with others through the Bonner County Sportsmen and Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club to make sure the fish and game populations in the region were healthy and viable. Long a natural resource and logging community, the whole town would suffer when mills would shut down because a fire or rains kept loggers out of the woods.

Thompson joined with others to promote an annual fishing derby that used the record kamloop trout environment to help gain the community more recognition and put Sandpoint on the map.

Thompson couldn’t sit still.

“If there was something going on, he was there in some part of it,” Jim Thompson said of his dad.

His parents, especially his dad, were very involved in the community and their newspaper gave them the voice and muscle to help promote those community causes. “Newspaper played a different role in those days,” Jim said. “They were almost the only way for people to hear news and share their opinions.”

His dad believed very strongly that newspapers were to be the community’s voice, and that all folks had a right to share those ideas and views on the community’s opinion page.

“It was loud,” Jim Thompson recalled. “I suppose in some ways today you can compare it to what’s going on with the internet. People were desperate to have a way to share their opinion and they did it loudly. There was a lot of controversy on that opinion page and Mom and Dad, Dad especially, believed very strongly in holding local government, city government, state government, accountable, accountable to the people.”

In addition to teaching his children the value of hard work, Thompson would pass along his love of the outdoors to his children, teaching them how to hunt and fish.

“He gave us a sense of community and our responsibility to community, and he shaped our lives,” Jim Thompson said. “He shaped the lives of everyone in our family.”

A strong and confident man, Thompson operated that same way in business. From its humble beginnings, the print shop was soon printing newspapers in two or three states, eventually becoming so successful it attracted the attention of hopeful buyers. In 1984, the family sold their newspaper business to Duane Hagadone, who’d built up a similar business in the Coeur d’Alene area.

While Pete and Adelle were relatively young — Pete 50-something — the couple got involved in raising and breeding Arabian horses, buying and selling them internationally. Even in recent years, Pete kept a couple of horses that had been born on the ranch “to keep the scenery in the pastures looking good.”

Thompson’s passion for the outdoors will be missed, said Shawn Keough, executive director of the Associated Logging Contractors — Idaho, and a former longtime state senator from Sandpoint.

“Idaho lost a fierce advocate for our Idaho way of life especially for our wildlife, our beautiful area and lakes and recreation,” Keough said. “Pete was never one to back down when he felt it important to engage in the public arena. I always appreciated when Pete was in my corner on an issue.”

Offering her condolences to his family and friends, Keough said Thompson will be missed.

“Idaho has lost a good friend,” she said.