Glenda Louise Thomson

Glenda LouiseThomson, whose life focused on kindness and justice, died April 17, 2011, from colon cancer at the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center near Madison, Wisc. She was 61. "She saw in me things that made me believe in myself," said her husband Stephen J. A. Ward, Ph.D., professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism, who survives. "The thing that made her most angry was when people ignored others and argued for their own selfish positions." Ms. Thomson's strong sense of justice allowed her to serve as a surrogate mother to many. While she provided compassionate support, she also embodied a sense of "this is what you need to do for yourself to move on." Her life-long friend Kathy LeGrow said that she gravitated to Thomson in college for her strength and her sense of fun, qualities she maintained throughout her life. "She was always ready to go live in some new place that was completely strange to her," Ward added, noting that her support had made possible his career, first as a foreign correspondent and then as an academic. Ms. Thomson was born on December 6, 1949, in Yarmouth near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her father, Robert Thomson, Sr., her b...[more]

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her Robert Thomson, Jr., and her mother Hazel Thomson predeceased her. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of King's College in 1971 and then a bachelor's of education from Acadia University. She and Dr. Ward were married on October 10, 1987, in King's College Chapel in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ms. Thomson worked primarily as a public relations professional for a variety of institutions of higher education in Canada and the United Kingdom, among them the University of New Brunswick and the Fisheries Institute in St. John's, Nfld. Before moving to Madison in 2009, she lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was active in church there, leading a prayer group and supporting innovative forms of worship. Ms. Thomson, a Canadian citizen, moved to Madison after Dr. Ward was named director of the Center for Journalism Ethics. Although she lived in Madison for a short time, she made close friends and made a home in the city. A memorial service will be held in Madison on Saturday, April 23, at 10 a.m. in the First Congregational United Church of Christ with the Rev. Eldonna Hazen officiating. http://www.firstcongmadison.org/ The family requests that donations be made to the cancer research center or organization of the donor's choice in Glenda's honor.