Francis Thompson

Francis Delight (Dagen) Thompson, 86, was lovingly and peacefully called home by our Lord on June 25, 2021 in her home.

Francis (Fran) was a special delivery sent by God to Anna (Anderson) and Francis Dagen on September 27, 1934, and was lovingly called “Tootsie”. She grew up on her family farm in Halma, MN and became the big sister to Dave, Arlie, Cheryl and Holly, who were her first best friends. After her chores, Fran would pass her teenage years with friends going to dances and watching the trains travel through town dreaming of who it carried and where they were going. After graduating from Karlstad High School in 1953, she moved to Grand Forks to attend the Aakers Business College. With a degree in hand, she moved to Minneapolis where she worked in the financial industry.

Fran began corresponding with a neighbor who had enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War. What started out to be an act of friendship turned into a romance and in 1955, she married Henry Dale Johnson. They made their home in Grand Forks where God blessed her with three children, Mark, Kerry and Jillane. As some love stories do, Fran and Dale divorced and began new chapters.

Fran used her experience and compassion for people who were hurting to help others. She led group meetings of Beginning Experience, counseling service for widows and divorcees, and founded Tender Loving Care, a God-centered, interdenominational support group for divorced, widowed and never-married mothers to help single mothers deal with loneliness, guilt, kids and finances. She was a social worker for Grand Forks County Social Services for 16 years helping families overcome many challenges in their lives. During her time of helping others, she found someone to help and walk this life with her and in 1987, she married Gordon E. Thompson.

Fran spent her life in the service of others and prayerfully watched over God’s creation. She enjoyed gardening, painting, ceramics, feeding birds, volunteering with the handicap association, attending church, participating in Christian events, and was a caregiver to a dear friend.

As a daughter, Fran cared for the family’s livestock and fields for provisions for the family. As a wife, she provided support in the careers of her husband, companionship and love.  As a mother, she created a loving home, fostered creativity in her children and allowed them to express their artist talents. As a grandmother, she was warm- hearted, attentive and displayed her witty personality to her grandchildren when they played board games, made cookies and spent time on the farm. As a friend, Fran shared wise counsel, compassion, empathy, smiles, joy and laughter.  Fran left a legacy of unconditional love, kindness, patience, forgiveness, goodness, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, modesty, self-control, piety, and fear of the Lord. 

The family request visiting hours at Amundson Funeral Home, Grand Forks, ND on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with a prayer service to follow officiated by Pastor Nathan Johnson of Freedom Church. The inurnment will be held at a private family service at Walle Cemetery, rural Thompson, ND on Thursday, July 1, 2021 at 10:30 a.m.

Fran is survived by her husband, Gordon E. Thompson, Grand Forks, ND; Mark (Robin) Johnson, Menomonie, WI; Kerry Johnson, Amarillo, TX; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; two brothers Dave (Karen) Dagen, Citra, FL and Arlie (Pat) Dagen, Aitkin, MN; and two sisters, Holly Rastegari, Minneapolis, MN and Cheryl Anderson; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, daughter Jillane Wack, and granddaughters Cammie Johnson and Lennon Rose Burks.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent to Freedom Church, 308 Demers Ave, Grand Forks, ND 58201, 701-772-3117.