Alan Bill Tompkins

Alan Bill Tompkins, a twenty year resident of Paradise, California, passed away on November 7, 2009 after a long illness. He was 66 years old. Born on July 27, 1943 in Albert Lea, Minnesota to Bill and Alma Tompkins. Alan lived most of his adult life in California. He was a devoted and loving husband of forty-six years to Pamela Tompkins, enjoying a date every weekend of their marriage. Family was Alan's religion and he was very proud of his two daughters, their husbands and his five grandchildren. He enjoyed his Norwegian heritage and was so proud of his many relatives that very early in his courtship with Pam he showed her pictures and named his many aunts and uncles. One of his favorite activities was attending family reunions with his very large extended family. Alan graduated from San Francisco State with a BA in Broadcast Communication Arts and an MA in Educational Technology in the early 70's. Throughout his career he worked in both education and television in various capacities, ever the happy "techie". In his early career, Alan was a producer-director in educational TV at UC Davis, which led to a faculty position in the Media Center at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, California. Locally, he taught audio and other classes at Butte College and Chico State. His later career was in the television field where he worked first at CBS in Los Angeles and then at local Chico stations; Channels 24 and 12. His last postion was chief engineer at Channel 30 FOX, retiring from the station in 2003. In his retirement, even during his illness, Alan and Pam enjoyed extensive travelling. Alan was a talented woodworker and a life-long singer. Alan is survived by his wife, Pam Tompkins of Paradise, California; daughters, Kristine Doiel of Atwater, California and Vanessa Littrell of Gardnerville, Nevada, their husbands, Mark and Nathan; five grandchildren, Zachary, Benjamin, Lucas, Bowman and Sasha; three loving sisters as well as numerous nieces and nephews and several aunts. A celebration of Alan’s life will be held at the Center for Spiritual Living, 789 Bille Road, Paradise, CA on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. To send a flower arrangement or to plant trees in memory of Alan Bill Tompkins, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.