EPHRATA - An Ephrata icon passed away after spending more than a century teaching thousands of people.

Mabel B. Thompson died peacefully at her Ephrata home on Monday.

She was born in Wenatchee to Frank T. and Bertha M. Bell on October 16, 1909, the same year Grant County was formed and Ephrata was incorporated.

Mabel spent much of her youth on a rural ranch west of Moses Lake with her parents, brother Victor F. Bell, and first cousin Frank A. Bell, before her father's real estate interests and Democratic Party politics moved the family on to several places, including Seattle, Alaska, Washington D.C. and, finally, Ephrata.

Mabel experienced many things over the course of her long life - surviving the great influenza pandemic of 1918, witnessing the first "talking" movie, living on a remote Alaska island and meeting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt among them - but one of the most important was education.

In a 2007 Columbia Basin Herald story about her, Mabel said the decision to take up teaching was one of the best she ever made.

"I enjoy teaching. Every moment (of my career) was the best moment for me," she said.

She began her own education in the Hiawatha Valley, attending a school her father helped build. She also attended schools in Montana, Seattle and Ephrata, graduating at the age of 16 from Franklin High School in Seattle.

"I was in 13 different schools before I entered college," she said. "I never missed a day of school in my life."

She attended college at the University of Washington, graduating after three years with a BA in history and political science and meeting her future husband, Ben Thompson.

Ben asked her if he could put his hand on her shoulder and if he could call her sweetheart while they were on a date at the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle, she recounted in 2007.

"Why would you want to call me 'sweetheart?' I said, 'I'm not that kind of a person.' He said, 'You are to me.' And that's what he always called me. I don't think he ever said my name half a dozen times."

The pair dated for three years before marrying secretly on Dec. 27, 1930, so that Mabel could retain her position as a teacher in Oroville. There she taught history, English, algebra, drama, and social studies, as well as coached the girls' basketball team.

She and Ben had two daughters, the first of which died during childbirth in 1933 and the second, Bertha Thompson of Ephrata, was born in 1941. The couple also adopted a 13-year-old girl, Sarah Smith, who went on to attend the University of Washington and work at Deaconess Hospital before passing away in 1975.

Mabel's teaching career ran from Oroville to Grand Coulee - where she was the principal - and after a brief hiatus, back to Ephrata.

Mabel and her husband moved to Ephrata to operate the 40-room Bell Hotel built by her father in 1939 when Ephrata was home to about 800 people. She continued running the hotel for five years after Ben Thompson passed on just short of his 56th birthday.

In 1962 she took a job teaching English and drama at Ephrata High School.

"She made an excellent teacher," said Donald Gordon, who was Vice Principal of Ephrata High School for about a decade while Mabel was there. "She was just was an inspiration to all her students."

When Mabel produced school plays, Gordon said she would encourage each member of her young cast to learn three different roles to fill over the course of a three night production.

Gordon continued to keep in touch with Mabel after they no longer worked together and attended her birthday party last year at Don's Restaurant in Soap Lake.

"The place was filled to capacity," he said. "She was a tremendous person."

Mabel taught for 15 years at Ephrata High until she was required to retire at the age of 68. The state tried to retire her at 65, but the school found a way to keep her on for three more years with help from the Grant County Prosecutor at the time.

"I think I was born to teach. It's something I have always wanted to do," she said in 2007.

After her retirement she became the director of the Ephrata Senior Center for another 15 years, finally handing the job off at the age of 82.

Mabel was long retired as a teacher by the time Ephrata City Administrator Wes Crago moved to town in 1989, but he says he had the chance to meet her on a couple of occasions and was struck by her well-regarded reputation and "forceful presence" as a political advocate for the Democratic Party.

"She attended a number of national conventions as a local delegate, which I think speaks volumes about how well regarded she was in the community," Crago said.

Ellie Webb, who was chair of the Grant County Democrats for a period of about nine years, said Mabel remained active in the local party until about a year and a half ago.

Mabel was well read and often brought books and articles to share pertaining to political issues, Webb said.

"It was sort of like she was teaching us," she said. "Mabel was truly one of the most gracious people I ever met. She was a political fighter but she did it with grace, which not many people can do."

Mabel was honored as an outstanding Democrat in Grant County and Washington State on a number of occasions and received recognition by the national Democratic Party during the Carter administration, Webb said. She was a delegate or alternate to national conventions in 1976, 1980 and 1996 and the Democratic booth at the Grant County fairgrounds is dedicated to her with a permanent plaque.

"She broke every record in the book in terms of endurance and staying power," Webb said. "During the hard times and with the animosity between the parties Mabel was always looking at how to solve problems and get ahead and she never got caught up in all that."

Rita Mayrant, president of the Grant County Historical Society, said Mabel was a charter member of the organization and continued to participate in events as recently as last September.

Twice a year Mabel would don historical clothing and preside over the one room schoolhouse at the Grant County Historical Museum, telling people of all ages what it was like in her own primary school days.

"She ran it just like when she was a teacher," Mayrant said. "She was what I call an icon of Grant County and she had some wonderful stories to tell. She was just a great all around lady."