Margery Ann Thompson

Margery Thompson, a Sacramento native and church pianist and organist who loved music from hymns to traditional jazz, died Aug. 27 after years of coping with congestive heart failure. She was 79.

A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held Saturday, Oct. 18, at 11 a.m. at Christ Community Church, 5025 Manzanita Ave., in Carmichael, CA.

In her honor, her family encourages all who wish to attend to wear bright colors—especially pink, Margery’s favorite color, emblematic of a woman who brought color and joy wherever she went.

Born in 1946 and raised in Sacramento, Margery Ann Schmidt was the only daughter of Christoffer and Elizabeth Schmidt, who were active members of the Evangelical United Brethren church, which merged with the Methodist church in 1968.

Margery joined her older brother Dick, and they were later joined by brother Stephen in the Schmidt family homes in the Oak Park and Arden Park neighborhoods of Sacramento. She learned to play piano from her mother, a church pianist and organist, a lifelong love they both shared.

Margery attended local schools, graduating from Encina High School in 1963. She attended Indiana Central College, majoring in nursing and graduating in 1968, and completed a bachelor of science degree at Chapman College in 1989.

She worked as a nurse at Kaiser Hospital in Sacramento where she met Tevan Malekian. The couple married in 1969. They moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where they had two children—Mitchell, born in 1974, and Rebecca, born in 1978. The couple returned to Sacramento and later divorced.

Margery loved all kinds of music and, following in her mother’s musical footsteps, played piano and organ at Faith United Methodist Church in Sacramento for many years.

In May 1990, she met John H. Thompson at a Sacramento restaurant/bar called Charlie Brown’s, where each went with friends to dance. She and John, a retired special agent for the state of California and a private investigator, began to date and married in June 1991.

In July 1992, to their surprise, they won a California State Lottery drawing, which funded their travels for decades. The Thompsons took many driving trips, eventually visiting every Capitol in all fifty United States, and traveled around the country to traditional jazz festivals. For her 50th birthday, her husband organized the Margery Thompson Birthday Jazz Band, made up of well-known national jazz musicians, who played at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee as well as at a party in her honor.

She and John traveled extensively, including several trips to Australia, a journey by ship to the North Pole, to Greece a few times, as well as to France and Germany, and countless trips to Hawaii. They loved Maui, and on many occasions, Margery played piano in small Hawaiian churches as a visitor.

She first became a grandmother to John’s four grandchildren—Reneé Thompson Hayden, Bo Thompson, Joey Thompson and Autumn Thompson—and eventually a great-grandmother to five children—Hunter Hayden and Ryder Hayden; Cam Thompson and Emma Thompson; and Bennett Thompson. She later became a grandmother to her son Mitchell and daughter-in-law Christina’s daughter Ella.

In 2023 she received some great news that her son had had a daughter, unbeknownst to him, Victoria Gonzales, who found Margery through ancestry.com. Margery learned then that she was also a great-grandmother to Victoria’s children, Scarlett and Nolan.

She loved to entertain and cook, hosting many family gatherings—from holiday celebrations to pool parties in the back yard—in the home that she and John shared in Sacramento, less than two miles from the neighborhood where she was raised. The Thompsons had recently celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary in June, and Margery turned 79 two weeks before she died.

Margery survived three bouts of breast cancer, one bout of thyroid cancer, and had three pacemakers installed over her lifetime to help her cope with congestive heart failure. She was a devout Christian and a former member of Faith United Methodist Church in Sacramento. More recently she attended Christ Community Church and enjoyed participating in the Life With Spice women’s group.

Her parents preceded her in death, as well as her son, Mitchell Andrew Malekian, who died in 2018. Her brother, Stephen Daniel Schmidt, died in 2017, and her stepson John H. Thompson Jr. died in 2022.

She is survived by her husband John Thompson, her daughter Rebecca Malekian, and her brother Dick Schmidt and his partner Jan Haag. Margery is also survived by Christina Honeycutt Malekian and Ella Capri Malekian, as well as by Victoria Gonzales, Hunter Swenson and their children, Scarlett Ringor and Nolan Gonzales-Swenson.

She is also survived by Joe Thompson and Alison Thompson; Joey Thompson, Annette Thompson and their son Bennett Thompson, as well as by Autumn Thompson. She is also survived by Lisa Thompson, Reneé Thompson Hayden, Andrew Hayden and their children, Hunter Hayden and Ryder Hayden; and by Bo Thompson and Lindsey Thompson and their children, Cameron Thompson and Emma Thompson.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made in Margery Thompson’s name to the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy—Sacramento at https://sacchaplains.com/.