A Legacy of Generosity: Virginia Thorpe, 1922–2015

One day in March, Director of Gift Planning Tom Susanka received some extraordinary news: Virginia Thorpe, a longtime benefactor who had recently passed away, had left nearly the entirety of her irrevocable trust, some $1.5 million, to Thomas Aquinas College. “The gift came as a great surprise,” says Mr. Susanka. Miss Thorpe had made periodic, modest gifts since 1994, but as far as anyone knew, she had no direct connection to the College. Neither she nor any members of her family was a graduate. She had never visited campus or met with College officials.

“When we called to thank her for her gifts, we would usually get an answering machine,” says Mr. Susanka. On a few occasions, though, the calls went through. “She was a chemist, and she expressed great interest in our natural science program. Once a student called to thank her, and she encouraged him to study hard.”

In 2011, when College Counsel Quincy Masteller tried to arrange a visit with her in her home city of East Lansing, Michigan, he learned that she had entered into the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease and was no longer accepting visitors. Around the same time, her annual gifts to the College ceased.

According to her published obituary, Miss Thorpe was born in 1922 in Traverse City, Michigan, and earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Michigan State University. She joined the Michigan Department of Agriculture and worked as a chemist in the Feeds and Fertilizers Laboratory, eventually assuming the supervision and training of many chemists and technicians while aiming for excellence in the analytical process. In 1978 she was named a Fellow of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists in recognition of her many contributions to the profession. She retired in 1988.

Miss Thorpe devoted the remainder of her life to her many hobbies and activities, including duplicate bridge and photography. Her love of taking pictures led her to visit more than 35 countries throughout the world. She was also a longtime member of her local parish, which is named, providentially, St. Thomas Aquinas.

A former neighbor, Barbara Brochu, brought her the Holy Eucharist every Sunday. When she learned that Miss Thorpe was ill and had no one to oversee her care, Ms. Brochu also agreed to serve as her legal guardian. “She was a very bright woman,” Ms. Brochu recalls. “She was a lady that really got on in the world of men, earning degrees and prestigious positions in the field of chemistry in a day when women didn’t do those things.” Yet Ms. Brochu did not know Miss Thorpe well and sadly, it seems, there are few surviving who do. Miss Thorpe was predeceased by her parents and never married or had children.

She will, however, not be forgotten. “Although we cannot thank Miss Thorpe personally for her great generosity to Thomas Aquinas College, we will pray for her eternal rest every day at Mass in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, as we do for all members of our Legacy Society,” says Mr. Susanka. “May her soul, and those of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.”