Ben Thompson

Former Mackinac County Sheriff Ben Thompson, who also developed the county's emergency disaster plan and set up its 9-1-1 system, died Wednesday, October 3, 2007, at the age of 71.

He had a reputation as an able administrator and detailed investigator.

Mr. Thompson was an undersheriff in both Montmorency and Oscoda counties in the 1970s and was hired in 1975 by Mackinac County Undersheriff Robert "Red" Easterbrook as a deputy in the east end of the county. He served as sheriff from 1980 to 1984 and as undersheriff under Sheriff Lawrence Leveille from 1984 until 1996.

After retirement from the Mackinac County Sheriff's Department, he served as the Mackinac County Emergency Services Coordinator until 2005.

Surviving are his wife, Helen, and their son, Tim, and family.

Visitation is Friday, October 5, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Dodson Funeral Home in St. Ignace.

A funeral will be Saturday, October 6, at 1 p.m. at Evangelical Free Church on Portage Road.

Burial will be at 1 p.m. Monday, October 8, at Bryley Township Cemetery in Atlanta.