Larry Thompson

Lawrence Thompson (1911-1973) was an American humor columnist and newspaper reporter for 28 years with The Miami Herald, until his death in 1973. Early years Thompson grew up in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he began a newspaper career that would span almost a half-century. After graduating from Oklahoma A. & M. College (now Oklahoma State University), he worked on newspapers throughout the United States as a reporter, including the New York Herald Tribune. In his early days, he was known as "Scoop" Thompson. He came to work for The Miami Herald in 1945 as a general assignment reporter. Within a few years, Thompson was writing a daily humor column, called "Life With Larry Thompson," which ran in the Comics Section of The Miami Herald for more than two decades. Following his death, the Associated Press described Thompson's column as "down-home humor" that was "one of the first items read over morning coffee by hundreds of thousands of Herald subscribers." In 1953 Thompson married aviator Gladys "Penny" Rhodes, after interviewing her for a story about women pilots and her involvement promoting international women’s air races in South Florida. On April Fool’s Day, 1954, they had twins, Carl and Evellen, receiving national publicity in Life Magazine. In 1965 the Dale Carnegie Alumni Association awarded Thompson the Good Human Relations Award.