Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Anthony (‘Tony’) Th­ompson, who has died aged 67, was president of the RSL’s Elizabeth sub-branch and known throughout South Australia for his ‘Cool Cone’ ice-cream van. He would travel to country shows, sporting carnivals, and festivals, sleeping in the van overnight and then dispensing his menu of gelati, soft-serve, fairy floss, and cappuccino with a generous dash of charm in the morning.

Tony was so fond of the product himself that he would often deliberately engineer a ‘misfire’ – and then eat it with obvious relish. ­The founder of the Cool Cone fleet, Gino Santoro, wept openly at his top franchisee’s funeral, held in the Elizabeth clubrooms. “Tony could talk to anyone, a wonderful salesman,” he said. “He was a better man than me.”

Born into a farming family at Millicent, Anthony John ­Thompson attended school reluctantly; hunting rabbits was a far more attractive proposition. After finding work as a farmhand, he was called up for national service and posted to Vietnam with 7RAR.

On his return early in 1971, he married Lyn Giblin, whom he had met at the Norwood Football Club on New Year’s Eve 1969. Following discharge from the army, he worked initially in a paper products factory and, subsequently, as a gantry operator at the Islington railway freight depot. 

Th­en he secured a job that enabled him to exercise his passion for sport – groundsman at Salisbury Park primary school. Th­is allowed time, too, for some coaching; among the young athletes whose careers he nurtured was Travis Head, now captain of the SA state cricket team. Travis sent two Redbacks shirts, each bearing his name, to the funeral service for sale towards sub-branch funds.

Tony combined his weekday job with the ice-cream franchise at weekends, extending that pursuit on retirement from Salisbury Park in 2008. He had become vice-president of the RSL club in 2006, advancing to the presidency in 2012.

One of his prime ambitions was to have the car-park sealed, to eliminate the mud of winter and the dust of summer. Cash donations at his funeral, requested in place of oral tributes, were directed to that cause.

Tony ­Thompson, who died of heart failure, is survived by Lyn, a son, three daughters, and 11 grandchildren.

Also present at the funeral service, nestled in a corner of the car-park, was his Cool Cone van. Naturally, it was playing the ubiquitous Greensleeves – not on this occasion as a lure for custom but as a lament for a president.

Nigel Starck

Obituary December 2015 RSL Signal publication