A black-and-white photo of a group of friends in the 1976 Viking Update brings Ann Thompson ’76 back to a cool spring day in 1974 — and one of her favorite memories at St. Olaf.

“It was just the way it worked out that we ended up in Ellingson [Hall] our sophomore year,” she says. “We became lifelong friends.” 

For Thompson, the connections and relationships she made at St. Olaf were among the most meaningful and lasting parts of her experience, and they threaded throughout her life and career.

“St. Olaf was absolutely the right place for me. It was foundational both in supporting and challenging my faith, building a career, developing friendships, and intentionally living in community,” she says. “I appreciated it while I was at St. Olaf, but it was particularly after that it really hit me how important that was — learning to live in community.”

Earlier this year, Thompson joined other Class of 1976 alumni to celebrate their 50th reunion. And she marked the milestone with a significant commitment to the college.

Thompson says her decision to give was a personal commitment to the future of the college. She has consistently supported the college by giving through the St. Olaf Fund, and is a member of the Manitou Heights Society through her planned gift, but she knew Thompson wanted to deepen her impact for her 50th reunion. 

“You feel like you’re giving a more substantial gift,” Thompson says of the collective impact of reunion gifts. “It’s inspiring to see other people who also give.”

Amongst her Reunion giving was a gift to the Alice Burton Endowed Biology Fund, which supports biology learning and independent research. It also honors a formative and long-lasting relationship. Thompson counts longtime biology professor Alice Burton among her most important faculty mentors and, in later years, a friend.

“We weren’t on the very first edge of women entering science, but we were on the earlier edges,” Thompson says. “I what she had to go through to get where she was, and it felt really important.” 

Thompson and Burton kept in contact for decades through visits and letters, with Burton often acting as her “cheerleader” and encouraging perseverance, until Burton’s death in 2010. 

Shortly after starting at St. Olaf, Thompson enrolled in the Paracollege and chose environmental science as her concentration. “I really wanted to do research. I knew that from about the seventh grade,” she says and remembers researching squirrels in Norway Valley with classmate Kevin Hofstad, biology professor Eugene Bakko, and Burton as a favorite project. 

After graduation, Thompson continued to graduate school and eventually earned her Ph.D. in environmental health sciences. She spent much of her career at 3M, in the medical and environment, health, and safety departments. As a hiring manager, Thompson regularly recruited from St. Olaf, knowing the strength of the college’s natural science programs would help candidates succeed.

Now retired, Thompson is stepping into a new chapter. She is currently working on a project through the Episcopal House of Prayer that focuses on ancient spiritual practices and develops contemporary curricula for congregations. She credits her religion studies at St. Olaf for opening her eyes to literature and concepts that continue to shape her work today. 

She also vividly recalls a moment in her senior year when a professor encouraged her to consider seminary after a chapel talk. That moment stayed with her for decades as a reminder that she had gifts she hadn’t yet recognized.

“I’m now figuring out what that’s going to look like in my encore career,” she says.

Throughout all the changes of the last five decades, St. Olaf — as a community of friends and mentors — has remained a steady constant for Thompson. As she looks ahead, she remains committed to maintaining the connection and is already anticipating her next visit to the Hill. After all, she and her friends have never missed a reunion.