Elaine “Laini” Louise VandenBout Tompkins, 83, passed away peacefully at her home in Lakewood, Colorado, on January 7, 2026. Born on June 7, 1942, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she was the daughter of the late Franklin and Hazel Walker VandenBout.

Laini was a brilliant teacher and author in the field of communication, an area of discipline and passion she shared with her husband of 52 years, Phillip K. Tompkins. She attended Western Michigan University on a full scholarship, where she was a champion debater and won a national title at West Point. After graduation she went on to earn her master’s in communication from the University of Iowa in 1966.

Laini met Phillip in 1968, when he was hired at Kent State University where she was also teaching. After witnessing the 1970 shootings on campus, they co-authored Communication Crisis at Kent State, a book examining the tragic response to the protests. They married in 1971. Their partnership was one of deep mutual respect; Phillip later dedicated his book, Organizational Communication Imperatives, to her with the words: “To Elaine, without whom nothing.”

Twenty years after completing her master’s, Laini achieved her PhD in 1986, a feat she achieved while teaching at Purdue University and raising her family. Throughout her distinguished career, she also taught at Wayne State University, the New York State Police Academy, and the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she retired from academia in 2000. After her first retirement, she joined the administrative staff of Trinity United Methodist Church, later becoming a wedding coordinator, and enjoying her “second act” immensely for more than a decade. She is the author of three books, and collaborated with Phillip on many papers, articles, and books.

Laini was preceded in death by her loving husband, Phillip; her parents; and her sister, Sandra (Frederick) Thurston. She is survived by proud daughter, Emily (Tofer) Lewis, and three loving stepchildren whom she adored: Todd, Kari (Clay) Lockett, and Terrence (Lisa). She is also survived by four dear grandchildren: Vanessa (James) Brossart, Taylor (Kathryn) Page, Logan (Kate), and Bridget; and five beautiful great-grandchildren: Timothy, Hugh, and Emma Brossart, and Josefine and Aria Page.

Services will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church on Saturday, January 31, at 10:30 a.m. Her ashes will be scattered alongside Phillip’s in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, where they spent many of their favorite years.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Laini’s honor to the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org.