Patricia A. Jewett Thompson (1986)

Biography for the Rev. Patricia Anne Jewett Thompson

Patricia Anne Jewett was born in Morrisville, Vermont in 1945 and grew up on a farm there, graduating from Peoples Academy in 1963.  She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1967 with a B.S. in Home Economics with a specialization in Early Childhood Education and Social Work.  During the summers of 1966 and 1967 she ran the first summer Head Start programs in Morrisville.  From September 1967, through May 1968, she attended one year toward an MSW at Case Western Reserve School of Applied Social Sciences in Cleveland, Ohio.

She returned to Vermont and worked for Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity from 1968 – 1973, first as a teacher in the full day Head Start program in Burlington’s North End, then as the Education and Social Services Director and finally as the Head Start Director.  During that time, she chaired the Vermont Head Start Directors Association and the New England Head Start Directors Association.

For a year from 1973 to 1974 she worked as a consultant in Boston for the 4-C’s program (Community Coordinated Child Care) and then became the coordinator of the Handicapped Effort for Head Start in the New England Region, working out of the Education Development Center in Newton, MA.  From 1977 – 1981 she directed the Head Start Training Center for the Head Start programs in New Hampshire and Vermont, out of the School for Lifelong Learning at the University of New Hampshire.  In 1976 she compiled and edited How to Influence Public Policy  An Action Guide for Child Care Advocates, published by the New England Association for the Education of Young Child, which she also chaired for a number of years, as well.

During 1981-82 she was the Coordinator of Volunteers for the Hospice program located out of York Hospital in York, Maine.

From 1983 – 1986 Pat attended Boston University School of Theology, graduating with an MDiv. degree in 1986.  She was ordained a deacon in the United Methodist Church in 1985 and an elder in 1987.  From 1986 – 1998 she served as pastor first of the Limestone and Caswell United Methodist Churches (through June 1991) and then the Grant Memorial UMC in Presque Isle (through June 1998), all in northern Maine.  In November 1987, she married Vernon Thompson from Limestone, Maine.

During the time that she was serving the Limestone and Caswell UMC’s, she served on the Board of the local battered women’s shelter, serving as President for a time.  While in Presque Isle, she served as the Hospice Chaplain for the local home health agency.  She also organized and served as President of the Aroostook County Habitat for Humanity program.

In July 1998, she returned to Vermont with her husband, Vernon, and they have lived in Morrisville since that time.  From November 1999 – June 2003 she served as pastor of the United Church of Johnson.  From July 2001 – December 2002 she also served as Hospice Chaplain for Lamoille Home Health and Hospice.  In January 2003, she began working for Lamoille Home Health as a social worker and continued until October 2005, at which time she was appointed as pastor to the Puffer and Wolcott UMC’s where she served until her retirement in June 2008.

In January 2015, Pat was appointed as ¼ Coordinating Pastor for the Puffer and Wolcott UMC’s, a position she held until September 2016, when she became ¼ Coordinating Pastor in charge of administration for the Wolcott UMC only.

After beginning her journey toward ordained ministry, researching and writing United Methodist history became her passion, particularly recovering the history of women and people of color in the New England and former Troy Annual Conferences.  She has served on the New England Conference Commission on Archives and History (NECCAH) as Chairperson and currently as Historian for the annual conference, currently editing a quarterly newsletter entitled, The New England United Methodist Messenger. 

She served on the executive committee of the Northeastern Jurisdiction Commission on Archives and History (NEJCAH), serving as President from 1996-2000.  In that capacity, she served on the General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) with an additional four years (2000-2004.)

She has served on the Board of the Historical Society of the United Methodist Church (HSUMC) in a variety of capacities (including President from 2001-2008) since its organization in 1989, with the exception of the four years from 1997 – 2000.  She has edited the Society’s newsletter, Historian’s Digest since 2009.

She is currently retired and living in her hometown of Morrisville, VT, with her husband, Vernon of 31 years, serving ¼ time as co-pastor (in charge of administration) and local church historian for the Wolcott United Methodist Church in Wolcott, VT.   She has spent the last 12 years recovering the history of the Rev. George S. Brown, the first African American pastor in the former Troy Annual Conference and the organizing pastor of the Wolcott UMC.  As far as is currently known, the Wolcott UMC is the only predominantly white UMC in the United States organized by an African American, who also oversaw the construction of the church building.

She wrote The History of Maine Methodism Through the Women’s Sphere, published by the Maine Annual Conference Commission on the Status and Role of Women (MCSRW) of the United Methodist Church in 1984, Roots and Wings  200 Years of Methodism in Maine 1793-1993, published by the Maine Annual Conference Commission on Archives and History (MCCAH) in 1993  and Courageous Past Bold Future The Journey Toward Full Clergy Rights for Women in the United Methodist Church, published by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM)of the United Methodist Church in 2006.  She has also written several local church histories, the  history of and an update of the Robert Frost Memorial Library in Limestone, ME, as well as updated the 100th anniversary history of the Town of Limestone on it’s 125th anniversary.  She has also had two articles published in Methodist History, the official historical journal of the United Methodist Church.

She was the 2002 recipient of the New England Conference Commission on the Status and Role of Women’s annual award, and the 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the General Commission on Archives and History.  In 2019 she was designated one of the 2019 Distinguished Alumni for the Boston University School of Theology.

Written and submitted by Patricia A. Jewett Thompson, October 2019.

 

Some reflections shared by Patricia in an email on September 20th, 2019 after she was honored as a Distinguished Alumna for Boston University School of Theology during chapel. 

“Growing up, I always loved history but had no idea what to do with that interest, as I didn’t think that I wanted to be a teacher and had no idea how else to use that interest at the time.  In the year or two prior to entering STH, after I answered the call to ministry, I was asked to serve on the Maine Commission on the Status and Role of Women.  At my first meeting, I had to pick a project in which to become involved, and I chose the “Women’s History Project.”  I was told that COSROW had realized that most of UM History had been written about men and they were trying to help annual conferences recover women’s history.  That really interested me.   I developed a questionnaire which I sent out to every UM church in Maine and I received back an amazing number of answers with some great stories.  However, by that time, I was ready to start seminary and I knew that if I was going to be able to complete this project, that I had to find a class in which I could use this as a project.
After listening to Dr. Kent Brown describe his American Church History course, I snagged him in the elevator and told him about my project and the fact that Maine COSROW wanted to publish my findings.  He said, “Well, Pat, I don’t doubt that you will find enough information to complete a paper for my class, but if you find enough information to write a book, I will be very surprised.”  However, the class project turned into both a book and an archives project for another class!  It was in that project that I first learned about the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society.  
 
My freshman year, I joined Seminary Singers and we went on tour in the Spring.  One of the places we visited was Albany, New York, where Charles and Ouida Schwartz (Charles was a BUSTH graduate, as well, I believe!) made a presentation about a young woman, named Betsey Dow, who had taught a course in Mental Philosphy at Newbury Seminary in Vermont, in what eventually evolved into the School of Theology!  I was immediately intrigued and came back and began to look into her life and discovered that she had also been involved in the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society and a paper was birthed for Dana’s “Women in Missions” class!  And Stephen Pentek, who was the archivist at the time, was a huge help, along the way and afterwards, as well.
 
Then, with my knowledge about the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society, I accepted an invitation to women seminarians from the Jurisdictional United Methodist Women to attend their quadrennial meeting at the former Tremont Street MEC, where the WFMS had been organized.  I sat in the balcony in front of the Founders’ windows and we all know where all of that led!  However, I do also have to say, beyond the fact that I had a hope and a vision for those windows, if you, Dana, had not also realized the significance of those windows for the School, and you, Dean Moore, had not been willing for STH to take the windows and store them, and you, Kara, had not made arrangements for the transportation and storage and then had the vision to hang them in the library, none of it would happened.  So, it truly was a team effort.  And, I could never have imagined them being displayed in such a wonderful place.  So, again, I thank the three of you for all you did to make that happen, as well.
 
And then there was my involvement in the Anna Howard Shaw Center and learning all about her that led to Margaret Wiborg’s recommendation for me to serve or the GBHEM Committee that organized the 50th Anniversary celebration of full clergy rights for women in 2006 which led to the publication of Courageous Past, Bold Future The Journey Toward Full Clergy Rights for Women in the United Methodist Church.  Of course, rather ironically, that led to the discovery of four women who had actually been ordained elder in the Methodist Protestant Church, supplanting Anna as the first to have been done so, but not taking away from any of her other many accomplishments!
 
But had my love of history not been fostered and supported through my three years at BUSTH, and beyond, it is likely that I would never have ended up doing all the things for which I was ultimately awarded this past week.  I had never put that all together until I began to think about it all during the day, so I do thank everyone at the School – especially Dana as you have been there with me through it all!  
 
May God continue to bless all of you and the great work you are doing.  Dean Moore, I was especially struck on Wednesday evening with the presence of the Latino/a community that has been created since I attended seminary.  The school is truly a wonderfully diverse community and doing so many new and creative things.  You can be very proud of all your accomplishments, as well.”
Source: excerpt taken from a saved email file sent directly from Patricia A. Jewett-Thompson on September 20, 2019.