Patricia Thomas Gifts $2 Million to Endow Campus Ministry at Wilmington College

Patricia Thomas

WILMINGTON, Ohio (August 25, 2025)—Patricia Thomas recalls presenting a box of Quaker Oats cereal when explaining the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) to new students and their families during her time as the campus minister at Wilmington College from 1994 to 1997.

Of course, the image on the cereal box — an American Colonial-era gentleman sporting bushy white hair, a flowing scarf and a broad-brimmed hat — reflects many people’s prototype of a Friend upon learning that WC is a Quaker-affiliated institution. Thomas used that naïve stereotype as an icebreaker to initiate discussions about the religious denomination’s long history of peace-making and promoting nonviolence, service, equality and social justice.

“I haven’t seen a Quaker that looks like that in all my life,” she laughed. “But, a lot of people don’t understand what Quakers are, and I felt explaining Quakers to students and parents was an important part of the job of campus minister — being a spokesperson for Quakers on campus.”

Thomas’ dedication to the value of Quaker influences at WC motivated her to give the College a $2 million gift to endow the campus minister’s position. Since only the earnings can be used from the endowment corpus, her generous action essentially ensures Wilmington College will always have a full-time campus minister.

“The College deserves to have a campus minister,” she said. “I feel very privileged to be able to do this.”

President Corey Cockerill noted, “Patricia Thomas has embodied the very best of our Quaker heritage at Wilmington College — peacemaking, service and deep care for community. Her extraordinary gift ensures that generations of students will continue to encounter those values through the ministry, presence and programs of a campus minister. On behalf of our entire community, we are profoundly grateful for her generosity and her lifelong witness.”

Thomas considered including the gift in her estate plans, but her legal counsel suggested she would enjoy presenting this gift in person. She also gifted her graduate school alma mater, Earlham School of Religion (ESR), $2 million for its peace and justice programming. “It has been fun!” she said, noting her financial windfall came in the form of an inheritance, which, “I wasn’t expecting at all.”

Thomas and her first husband, Kirby Thomas, reared two sons in Granville, OH, before she pursued her graduate studies at Earlham School of Religion. Upon earning her advanced degree in 1990, Chester Friends Meeting in Clinton County offered her the position of pastor. Thomas mentioned she had two requirements before settling in a new community after her time at ESR. It must have a college and a Quaker meeting. Wilmington checked both of those boxes.

Upon the couple’s moving to the Wilmington area, Kirby Thomas, who passed away in early 1995, joined Wilmington College’s Prison Education Program administration. Patricia Thomas also taught incarcerated students before joining WC full-time in 1994 as its campus minister. There, she either started or maintained WC’s Mediation, Peer Advocacy, Quaker Lecture Series, Religious Emphasis Week, Wednesday Worship and Quaker Leader Scholars programs. Many of these continue today under Campus Minister Nancy McCormick, who certainly also carries on the pastoral counseling component of the position.

After her time as the campus minister, Thomas spent the 1997-98 year in London in a leadership role with the Friends World Committee on Consultation — her sons called her the “Quaker Pope.” She married WC biology professor Doug Woodmansee, who also has two sons, in 1998 and spent 10 years as pastor for Fairview Friends Meeting near Wilmington. As many long-time stalwarts of Campus Friends Meeting passed away, Thomas placed her focus on that unprogrammed Quaker meeting, recently retiring after 22 years as clerk of Campus Friends.

Also, she taught courses at the College as an adjunct instructor — Introduction to Quakers, Global Issues and remedial English — until Woodmansee’s retirement in 2017. Their retirement has allowed them the opportunity to pursue many activities, including visiting all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Thomas continues to serve as presiding clerk of Wilmington Yearly Meeting, recognizing that “the relationship between the College and Yearly Meeting is very important.”

Article Submitted by Wilmington College