Scholarship named in honor of former boys club director

Portland — Lifelong Vancouver resident Ken Thompson was director of the Columbia Boys Club in Portland for more than 30 years, and there’s no telling how many kids he saved from trouble on the street, according to Jeff Brooks, who just retired after 26 years of coaching soccer and said he owes his first coaching job to Ken. A huge reunion of the Columbia Boys Club was held in Columbia Park on July 26, with Thompson and hundreds of others in attendance and a new college scholarship fund established in Thompson’s name. The Ken Thompson Scholarship will be awarded annually to a graduate of Roosevelt or Jefferson high schools in Portland.