By Amelia Krauss
News Editor
Dr. David Thomas, professor of history, sits at a desk in front of one of many bookshelves placed throughout the Thomas home. The variety of books displayed is a window into his many interests, abilities and hobbies.
Hidden among his history anthology is a collection of engineering and oceanography books, revealing the varied interests, diverse skill set and unique past of Dr. David Thomas, a longtime Union history professor.
Thomas has not always shared his love of bygone ages with like-minded students. Before coming to Union in 1994, Thomas was an oceanographer working for a consortium of oil companies run by Mobile in southern California. He labored daily to write computer software that would predict wave heights in the North Sea, a part of the Atlantic Ocean near Britain.
When the tediousness of that job began to wear on him, his search for something new led him down what he calls a providential path to the job he loves: teaching.
“I always thought of myself as a researcher, but lo and behold, I’m not. I’m a teacher,” he said.
Thomas graduated from Ohio State University in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering before pursuing a related master’s degree in oceanography from the University of Michigan. Both degrees required skills in applied math and science.
His fondness of aeronautical engineering began with an early love for airplanes. As he grew up, his father would point out different types and models of airplanes as flights from Boston Logan International Airport flew over their home.
“I think planes are so aesthetically attractive,” Thomas said, recalling those moments with his father. “They’re beautiful when they’re flying … I will watch movies like Top Gun not because I think it’s a good movie but so I can see the F14s flying.”
A bit of parental pressure also influenced his decision to pursue aeronautical engineering. Thomas grew up surrounded by a scientifically minded family: His grandfather had a doctorate in chemistry, his uncle had a doctorate in engineering and his cousins had scientific backgrounds.
His love of airplanes, his family’s affinity for science and his skills in math and science made aeronautical engineering a logical choice.
After moving to California in 1985 to pursue the position in oceanography, Thomas said the job soon became boring because the problems he faced were not compelling. He knew he could not do it for the rest of his life.
He thought seriously about becoming a pastor. Thomas said his friends were dubious about such a drastic change, but his wife, Nancy, was supportive.
“I don’t think I was skeptical, because I knew his deep commitment to Christ and to Biblical understanding, studying Scripture and theology,” Nancy Thomas said.
He decided to audit a church history course taught by Dr. James E. Bradley at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. David Thomas would work full days as an oceanographer and then faithfully travel twice a week to the Fuller campus, where he said he was inspired by Bradley’s lectures.
Nancy Thomas said her husband’s fascination with the course was evident in his deep engagement with the content, his commitment to going to class and his enthusiasm in sharing his newly-gained knowledge with others, including church friends back in Ohio.
“When he started taking the church history class at Fuller, the one thing that stands out in my memory is that he loved looking at the faith of people from the past, and he could get very enthusiastic about that,” she said. “The modeling that James Bradley offered of how a teacher could be was perhaps compelling (to David) too . . . I think (Bradley) is always coming out of his own faith commitment; he’s always interested in hearing people’s story and knowing how God worked in the world and in individuals’ lives.”
Bradley’s compelling lectures and teaching style and Thomas’s growing realization of his interest in history pushed him toward a life-changing decision.
He would not be a pastor. He would get a doctorate in history and become a teacher.
Thomas said he has written Bradley several notes thanking him for his significant influence in Thomas’s vocational discovery, noting that the church history course at Fuller Seminary ended up being a transformative stepping stone in his life.
“I realized that I really wanted to know more about how Christians had believed and practiced their faith, not just in 1985 but throughout the course of the 2,000 years of the church,” Thomas said. “I really wanted to know that. I saw that as vital for Christians to know. To not know is to disconnect yourself from the church, so I saw that as something vitally important that I know and be able to communicate. It became tied up in my faith and my relationship with the church and my commitment to minister to others in the body of Christ. It became a pretty big package.”
Shortly after this epiphany, Thomas and Nancy were married. The wedding was in December of 1985, and they left California the following May. Thomas applied for graduate school and worked in Ohio at a locally-owned bookstore called Waldenbooks while he awaited admission into a program for more than a year.
In 1987, he was admitted into Ohio State University. In December of 1993, he graduated with a doctorate in history and a hope of becoming a professor.
“I think the move to Ohio was one of those big providential sign posts . . . because everything fell into place. My wife got her job back (in Ohio); she got her health insurance, I got money to go to grad school,” he said.
Soon after graduation, Thomas diligently searched for a job. After several interviews but no promises, he put his name on a website on for a clearing house for Christian colleges. When May 1994 rolled around and Thomas was still jobless, he began to doubt his new career choice. He now had three children to consider.
“Just at the time when I was beginning to quit on history because I needed a job, Dr. Carls (Union professor of history and department chair) called me up and said, ‘We would like you to apply,’ and I did,” Thomas said. “It felt like it fell into my lap. It felt like a gift.”
Thomas came to Union that fall and now teaches American history courses from the colonial era to the world wars. His wife works around the corner from his office as associate director of the Center for Faculty Development. David Thomas said his wife’s job at Union is just another providential aspect of their story. All three of the Thomas children: Steven, 25, Spencer, 22, and Rachel, 20, also studied at Union.
Dr. Carls praises Thomas for his history expertise, his dedication to his students, his ability to guide and direct seniors working on theses and his knack for “pinpointing unique subjects” and resources.
Carls noted that Thomas received the Newell Innovative Teaching Award in 2001 for developing an assignment in which students read children’s stories and examine them for historical contexts. The goal, Thomas said, was to “broaden their historical awareness, pushing towards the realization that everything about human culture is historical.”
His project culminated in a 2008 book published by Royal Fireworks Press: “The Stories We Tell Our Children: How Our Past Is Made Present in Children’s Literature.”
Carls said Thomas actively participates in department activities and service projects, particularly the annual “Campus and Community: A Day of Remembrance and Service,” for which the history department helps clean and renovate various historical sites.
“He’s always there to roll up his shirtsleeves and get dirty, because (we’re) actually going out into the field,” Carls said. “There’s a lot of sweat labor involved.”
In previous years, Thomas helped build bog bridges at Pinson Mounds Archeological State Park and scrubbed stairways at historical Bemis Auditorium Theater.
“He’s always there,” Carls continued. “He’s quite dependable when it comes to service projects. He’s always ready to step forward.”
In retrospect, Thomas said he can see various signposts throughout his life pointing him to his vocation. His B-range grades in college show him that engineering was not the right path.
“If you’re getting Bs, you probably ought to be doing something else,” he said. “In other words, I didn’t find the problems compelling. It’s not that I couldn’t get As … it’s just that I didn’t find the work interesting.”
His interest in the liberal arts and in people also was a signpost. Thomas, who was only two hours short of being a double major in both engineering and literature, noted in an interview, “I think I was the only one in my immediate group of friends who was majoring in engineering but also was taking classes on Shakespeare.”
Today, his normal, business-casual attire and his neatly cropped salt-and-pepper hair may cause him to blend in with his colleagues on campus, but his varied interests and abilities make him unique.
He spends his free time knee-high in his backyard blueberry patch, making tables and desks in his garage woodworking shop, baking a variety of homemade breads, learning about the significance of heirloom apples or burying his nose deep in a book.
Nancy Thomas said her husband is interested in everything, and no matter what the topic is, he will always start with a book and try to gain access to all the available information about that particular subject.
“He can pretty much do anything,” his daughter Rachel, junior Spanish major, said.
Thomas also bakes bread for his students to teach them the cultural and historical significance of food. His interest in food also explains his extensive knowledge of apples. After learning of a man who grafts heirloom apples into old orchards, Thomas began to absorb a wealth of information about the history of apples in America and its implications about Americans’ relationship to food today, which is why he has been asked by other Union faculty to give lectures about the philosophy and sociology of food.
“It’s just one of those tidbits,” he said with a smile.
While apples, bread and fresh blueberries are desired delicacies, Thomas said his all-time favorite food is a specific hamburger he had after a challenging hike over sand dunes with his family in Empire, Mich., in the summer of 1994.
“Food is situational,” he joked, recalling the taste of the “excellent” burger after the difficult hike.
Rachel said her father’s eclectic assortment of interests and abilities has helped her grow in her understanding of the world.
“(My brothers and I) were always really encouraged to read a lot, to think outside the box, to try not to grow up with a narrow-minded view of the world and people,” Rachel Thomas said. “(My father) is always sending me articles of things that are interesting that I need to read. He’s really good at helping me develop a different perspective … Even in politics we don’t share the same viewpoint at all, even in the current election. We’re on opposite sides. But when I ask him questions about it … he’s really good at helping me see another way to view it other than how I view it to open my eyes to another perspective I wouldn’t come to on my own.”
Rachel added that her father’s knack for teaching and sharing information has been obvious to her throughout her life.
“His ability to explain anything with words that everyone can understand is uncanny,” she said. “I ask him questions all the time. He’s basically like my teacher . . . He can pretty much explain anything. And he knows something about everything. He knows everything. It’s kind of insane.”
Her father tends to be restless at times, his daughter pointed out. He used his woodworking skills to fashion a stand-up desk that allows him to stand while grading papers, because he does not like sitting all day.
Thomas does not watch much television, but he will sometimes play computer games, often with one of his sons, as a respite from his daily responsibilities.
“He’ll grade for 20 minutes, get up, make a cup of tea, play a game for 10 minutes, grade for another 20 minutes, make another cup of tea,” Rachel said. “He doesn’t sit for more than 20 minutes.”
He is a committed member of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, where he and his wife have been teaching Sunday school for 15 years.
When recalling his career change many years ago, David Thomas said the transition grew his trust in God’s guidance, solidified his commitment to virtue and enhanced his willingness to trust God’s leading even when it is hard to see.
These valuable lessons translate into the advice he said he would give to college students seeking direction for their future: “Do what you love. And seek faithfulness to Christ and the church.”
