Gale Thomson

Thomson was born Anne Gale Kelly[3] in Brooklyn, New York, in 1919.[2] She was the oldest child of parents William and Anne Kelly.[3] She graduated from high school two years early and took a position with the Edward Thompson Law Book Company, a law publishing company in Brooklyn.[3]

Kelly met her future husband, Meldrim Thomson, Jr., while she was working as a secretary at the Edward Thompson Law Book Company.[2][3] The couple married in 1938 and had six children during their marriage - Peter, David, Thomas, Marion, Janet, and Robb.[2][3] The family initially resided in Brooklyn and Stony Brook, New York.[3]

In 1954, Thomson and her husband decided not to raise their family in New York City.[2] They moved with their six children to the Mt. Cube Farm, a 19th-century farmhouse in Orford, New Hampshire, in the fall of 1954,[3] where Thomson and her husband lived for the rest of her life.[2][4][5] As Mel Thomson's book editing company, Equity Publishing, grew, Gale Thomson largely ran the day-to-day operations of the farm and family.[6]

Thomson became the First Lady of New Hampshire in 1973 when her husband took office. She was known to entertain guests with pancakes served with maple syrup collected at her Mt. Cube Farm in Orford.[2][3] Gale Thomson (and her husband) used the breakfasts as a way to network and lobby legislators and businesspeople on behalf of her husband's political goals.[6] She notably lobbied Greek magnate Aristotle Onassis, who had announced plans to construct an oil refinery in New Hampshire, reportedly winning him over with a bottle of Blue Nun, an inexpensive wine.[6]

Thomson remained First Lady until they moved out of Bridges House at the end of his tenure in 1979 after three consecutive terms.[2]

Gale Thomson remained a vocal supporter of Mel Thomson's policies, especially after his death in 2001.[6] She was strong proponent of the former governor's tax policies, including "The Pledge," in which he had promised to veto any state income tax or sales tax.[6] Thomson also defended her late husband against charges of racism, including in a 2001 profile published in The "New Hampshire Century: "Concord Monitor" Profiles of One Hundred People Who Shaped It."[7] The former Governor had visited South Africa under apartheid rule, after leaving office and had come under fire for referring to the late Martin Luther King Jr. as a person "of immoral character" and a "leading agent of Communism."[7] Gale Thomson dismissed the accusations of racism against her husband, noting that he had appointed Ivory Cobb, the first African American judge in New Hampshire state history.[7]

The former First Lady published op-eds and other opinion pieces in the New Hampshire Union Leader.[6]

In 2000, Thomson, a prominent state political figure and activist, expressed concern that New Hampshire residents were beginning to ignore their responsibilities as the first state to hold a presidential primary.[8] She told the Hartford Courant, "People are apathetic.... The working people here, for the most part, don't get too involved in the primary -- they're a little bored with it.... I was born the year that women were first given the chance to vote. It's not to be squandered."[8]

In 2005, Gale Thomson, her son, Tom Thomson, and other homeowners drew international attention when their homes were levied with a so-called local "view tax" in Orford, New Hampshire.[5][9] Gale Thomson's home, where she had lived at Mt. Cube Farm since 1954, was appraised with a new $100,000 tax assessment based on the panoramic view from the house.[9] Gale Thomson joined with other property owners, including David Bischoff, to form the "Axe the View Tax" campaign to challenge the proposed "view factor" tax.[9] Thomson told a British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, "My husband would have been furious. He'd have supported these boys all the way."[9]

Thomson ran a maple syrup business based out of her Mt. Cube Farm in Orford.[5]

• Mt. Cube Sugar Farm