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News & Photos
Agnes Thomas's Final Gift
Agnes Thomas gave McDonogh School almost everything she had. The fourth grade teacher devoted her life and 38-year career to McDonogh. And, when she died in March 2010 at age 89, Agnes Thomas left the school almost $500,000 in her will.
Tall, slender, ladylike, and principled, the Towson State Teacher’s College graduate fit the classic image of a schoolmarm. She spoke softly and never raised her voice to a child. She kept a classroom of perfectly ordered desks. Her cursive handwriting was flawless.
Agnes Thomas never married or had a family of her own. Instead, her students became her children. Like a typical parent of the Baby Boom generation, she loved those children by being firm.
“Miss Thomas was very strict,” said former student Barry Rollins ’74. “She was very tough to please, but when you did you felt you had accomplished a great deal.”
Agnes once said she simply imposed guidelines that her students needed in order to succeed. She liked teaching the older lower schoolers. “They’re young enough to need you and old enough to have a sense of humor,” she told a colleague.
“She deeply understood her students as individuals,” observed Head of Lower School Noreen Lidston, the division’s reading specialist during the last four years of Agnes Thomas’s tenure. “She was very perceptive.”
And revered. Bill Mules ’59, the last of three headmasters for whom Agnes worked, called her “a keystone” of the Lower School.
Agnes Thomas retired in 1983 and moved to Williamsport, Md, where she lived quietly in a retirement community near family. She made a point to return annually for the Lower School’s winter holiday program, known as Christmas Chapel during the 38 years she helped to run it.
Barry Rollins visited a visibly frail Agnes Thomas several times before she died. “Whether it was 1960 or 2010, her response, affect, and outlook were the same. Her foundations were very strong,” he recalled. “Most importantly, she definitely loved the kids she taught, although it was hard for us to figure that out at the time.”
In the small room she occupied, Miss Thomas surrounded herself with McDonogh mementos. “She even crocheted a seat cushion with the McDonogh seal,” said Barry.
She told Barry, “If there is anything left at my death, McDonogh is the largest beneficiary.”
The board of trustees has allocated Agnes Thomas's to the McDonogh Forever Campaign, where it will benefit a master plan project that serves lower schoolers.
Agnes Thomas gave McDonogh School almost everything she had. The fourth grade teacher devoted her life and 38-year career to McDonogh. And, when she died in March 2010 at age 89, Agnes Thomas left the school almost $500,000 in her will.
Tall, slender, ladylike, and principled, the Towson State Teacher’s College graduate fit the classic image of a schoolmarm. She spoke softly and never raised her voice to a child. She kept a classroom of perfectly ordered desks. Her cursive handwriting was flawless.
Agnes Thomas never married or had a family of her own. Instead, her students became her children. Like a typical parent of the Baby Boom generation, she loved those children by being firm.
“Miss Thomas was very strict,” said former student Barry Rollins ’74. “She was very tough to please, but when you did you felt you had accomplished a great deal.”
Agnes once said she simply imposed guidelines that her students needed in order to succeed. She liked teaching the older lower schoolers. “They’re young enough to need you and old enough to have a sense of humor,” she told a colleague.
“She deeply understood her students as individuals,” observed Head of Lower School Noreen Lidston, the division’s reading specialist during the last four years of Agnes Thomas’s tenure. “She was very perceptive.”
And revered. Bill Mules ’59, the last of three headmasters for whom Agnes worked, called her “a keystone” of the Lower School.
Agnes Thomas retired in 1983 and moved to Williamsport, Md, where she lived quietly in a retirement community near family. She made a point to return annually for the Lower School’s winter holiday program, known as Christmas Chapel during the 38 years she helped to run it.
Barry Rollins visited a visibly frail Agnes Thomas several times before she died. “Whether it was 1960 or 2010, her response, affect, and outlook were the same. Her foundations were very strong,” he recalled. “Most importantly, she definitely loved the kids she taught, although it was hard for us to figure that out at the time.”
In the small room she occupied, Miss Thomas surrounded herself with McDonogh mementos. “She even crocheted a seat cushion with the McDonogh seal,” said Barry.
She told Barry, “If there is anything left at my death, McDonogh is the largest beneficiary.”
The board of trustees has allocated Agnes Thomas's to the McDonogh Forever Campaign, where it will benefit a master plan project that serves lower schoolers.