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On Friday, October 28, 2016, just a little more than four months after June’s historic flooding, 83-year-old Gerda Thompson passed away. Thompson lost her husband Edward during the 2016 flood that ravaged West Virginia in June. In July, she was featured in an Inside Appalachia TV special called West Virginia’s 1,000 Year Flood.
On Saturday, October 29th, her son Keith Thompson posted the news of her death on Facebook:
“The nightmare that started for my mother in the flood in Rainelle which started on June 23rd is over. Gerda Thompson passed peacefully last night at 9:12 p.m. at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. Last Saturday my mother had a stroke from which she never recovered. Dad and Mom are once again together. May they enjoy eternity as much together as they did here on earth.”
Gerda Thompson’s home was damaged due to the June floods. Throughout the summer, volunteers worked to restore her house. Thompson moved back into her home in Rainelle about a month before her death.
