Thompson Gets the 'Welcome' Sign as a Show of Thanks

There was a point when Richard Reese started to break emotionally. He had just read the Rudyard Kipling poem "If" because it reminded him of Gary Thompson, the big Rancho Santa Margarita city councilman who told it like he saw it for more than 20 years.

With his voice breaking, the city's master planner turned before stepping away from the microphone.

"Gary Thompson," Reese said, "you are the man."

One of the city's founding fathers, Thompson seemed part Marshal Dillon and part Bob Dylan, a large presence who cut through the rubbish, who said what was on his mind, and who helped settle the land in which he lived.

Three original members of the Rancho Santa Margarita City Council have been honored with speeches and awards since November as they have said goodbye to civic duty. Jim Thor didn't seek re-election, Neil Blais was defeated, and Thompson resigned March 3 after 11 years of helping govern  the city.

Yet only one—Thompson—received the original "Welcome to Rancho Santa Margarita" street sign that preceded the monument signs of today. It was an extraordinary show of appreciation as Thompson was honored Wednesday at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center, which Thompson had a hand in building. 

"You are a giant," Mayor Tony Beall said, "and you did it for all the right reasons."

He resigned for the right reasons as well, citing his family. His mother was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and in convalescent care, and the health of his father, Richard, had taken a turn for the worse at the beginning of the year, so much so that he thought he might need to move in with him in Newport Beach. Thompson knew in January that his four-year term of office probably wouldn't last through the first half of March. It ended three days in.

The June 22 ceremony was bittersweet, to say the least. Early in the day, Thompson's father had entered the hospital, and just moments before the ceremony was to begin, a doctor told the 60-year-old councilman that his father probably would not make it through the night. Richard Thompson died Friday. He was 83.

Thompson's brief comments followed various commendations for his service.

He admitted that he didn't endorse the hiring of Steve Hayman as the city manager and called it "the worst decision of my life." He joked that he didn't always see eye to eye with Beall, "and when I didn't, I'd talk to [your wife] Jennifer." He called Jack Leonard, who has been his appointment to the city Planning Commission for 11 years, "my rock."

"I am just one person out of many who made this city what it is," Thompson said. "This community is a little different. ... It stays engaged."

He also said his proudest moment occurred before Rancho Santa Margarita gained cityhood on Jan. 1, 2000.

"I was so proud to represent the city fighting against that El Toro airport," he said. "We had only one goal—to kill that airport. And we did."

It was victories such as that one, and creating the financial plan that staked RSM to budgetary success, that weren't lost on the leaders of the community. But there were also personal remembrances as well.

Beverly Curtin recalled Thompson's "photographic memory," and Mike Safranski talked about Thompson, a rival when it came to fighting for annexation in the 1990s, putting bygones to bed after cityhood became a reality—"the measure of the man," Safranski said.

Curt Stanley, representing the Bell Tower Foundation, praised Thompson "for holding us accountable. We would not have this beautiful place without Gary's participation on the council."

Melody Carruth, the first mayor of Laguna Hills, called Thompson "the only person in the world who could make vector control really interesting." They served together on the Vector Control Committee, which is focused on mosquito abatement and germ-carrying vermin.

Among all the accolades, Reese's comments stood out.

"I knew we'd talk about what he's done," Reese said, "but I've been more impressed by who he is. ... He gave me wise counsel and all points of view, not just his, and he never petitioned me to come to his way of thinking.

"I have never ever known a man I respect more than Gary Thompson."