Former Washington Middle School teacher Playford Thorson, in this photo from 2006, died Friday from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.


Published December 21, 2008 | 12:17 a.m.
Ex-Washington Middle School teacher Playford Thorson dies

BY BILL GUIDA
bguida@kenoshanews.com

Every Christmas Eve when his son and daughter were growing up, Playford V. Thorson III, would read them Clement Clarke Moore’s classic adaptation of “The Night Before Christmas.”

After tucking Andy and Katie in bed, he and wife Kathy would plant a trail of Hershey’s Kisses from their bedroom doors, down the stairs and to the fireplace, where the siblings’ stockings had been hung with loving care, in the hope, of course, that St. Nick soon would be there.

Sadly, Thorson, won’t be there in person this Christmas Eve, although his presence surely will be warmly felt in the family’s memories.

Thorson, 56, died Friday due to complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, the pernicious, debilitating and relentless illness that in little more than three years robbed him of nearly all physical functions, until it had stolen all but the joy that lit his eyes each time he heard the voices of his much beloved children.


“He was a wonderful husband and a great father,” Kathy said Saturday. “He would grin from ear to ear whenever they called, even in his advanced state. I would put the phone up to his ear or put it on speaker phone if it was the cell. They were the light of his life. We’ll miss him a great deal.

Before being stricken with ALS, Playford taught at Washington Middle School. An instructional media specialist, he joined the Kenosha Unfied School District in 1978 and gained a reputation as someone who loved to laugh — even if the laugh was on him — almost as much as he loved to be in on all the gossip that is the stuff of the workplace.

“He did love gossip. He was the ‘purveyor of information’ is how they put it,” said Kathy, a Unified music teacher and Playford’s wife of 26 years.

She recalled Playford’s unflagging loyalty to the Minnesota Vikings, having been a native of that state, and his devotion to the hockey team at his college alma mater, the University of North Dakota.

Yet, what she’ll likely treasure most was his brave heart, gentle spirit and the parent he was to Katie, who has since graduated college, and Andy, who soon will follow.

“He was a kind and gentle man, well read, very thoughtful, always willing to help anyone. He had a great sense of humor and a servant’s attitude,” Kathy said. “He was a teacher who really cared about his students.”

She reminisced about time spent relaxing with Playford in the pool before his health began to fail. And she recalled how happy it made him to fly to Grand Forks, N.D., to visit the University of North Dakota campus in February 2006, a year after he was diagnosed, and watch the Fighting Sioux not only take the ice, but beat their opponents in newly built Englestad Arena.

We feel pretty lucky that it (ALS) was diagnosed pretty early because a lot of times it takes longer to diagnose,” Kathy said, adding that the medical team with the ALS clinic at Froedert Hospital in Wauwatosa helped the family learn to manage the challenges of the affliction and to cope with the disease that proved so debilitating so rapidly to Playford.

“He went downhill pretty quickly after being diagnosed at the end of June 2005. Within two years, he was at a pretty nonfunctional level except for his brain, and his senses were still there,” Kathy said.

Still, his death Friday was somewhat surprising. A recent doctor’s exam showed his lungs were clear, and he seemed to be doing relatively well, all things considered, according to Kathy.

“He went quietly,” she said. “We weren’t expecting it. I thnk he’s a great loss.”



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