Dr. William Earl "Willie" Thompson Receives James Madison Award from Hampden-Sydney College

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Dr. David Marion, Director of the Wilson Center; Rev. Willie Thompson; Dr. Christopher Howard, President of Hampden-Sydney College

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (04/13/2011)(readMedia)-- On April 1, The Reverend Dr. William Earl "Willie" Thompson was presented the James Madison Award by the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest at Hampden-Sydney College. This award honors a friend of the College who has assisted the Wilson Center, either directly or indirectly, in carrying out its mission of civic education and public service. The 2010 James Madison Award recognizes Thompson's lifelong devotion to the ministry, to community service, and to the victims of social injustice.

A native of North Carolina, Thompson earned his B.A. from Davidson College and then enrolled at Union Theological Seminary where he completed Masters degrees in Divinity and Theology as well as a Doctorate in Divinity. He began his career as a minister at Second Presbyterian Church in Rocky Mount, NC. In 1988, he arrived at Hampden-Sydney College to serve as College chaplain and pastor for College Presbyterian Church.

An active and highly visible civil rights advocate in North Carolina, Thompson challenged the activities of the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan which resulted in robed Klansmen attending his services, a cross being burned in his yard, and vandals spray painting the word zebra on his car. The result of the later action was to make him a lifelong collector of anything related to the striped animal.

His ministerial work eventually took him from North Carolina to northern Virginia, where he served as part-time chaplain to the U.S. Senate, an organizer of United Community Ministries and helped to establish the Mount Vernon Day Care Program. Not known to shy away from controversy, our recipient was instrumental in organizing a public protest at the South Korean Embassy over the imprisonment of politician Kim Dae Jung. He was one of the first people on the scene of the assassination of Orlando Letelier in September 1976 and hosted a community-wide memorial service in Letelier's honor. Thompson was the chaplain on duty at George Washington University Medical Center the night of the Air Florida crash into the 14th Street Bridge.

At Hampden-Sydney, Thompson was very active with FACES, the local community food pantry, where he served on the Board. He was the 2001 recipient of the FACES Community Service Award. He served as the President of Union Theological Seminary's Alumni Association in 1976. Thompson received an Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for community service from Hampden-Sydney in 1999 and in 2003 was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the College.

Thompson has authored several books and articles on the Presbyterian Church, including Three Centuries of Presbyterians Along the Potomac; Railroads, Racism and Real Estate – a dissertation on the removal of Union Theological Seminary from H-SC to Richmond; History of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington DC; and his most recent publication, Her Walls Before thee Stand in which he examines the 235 years of the Presbyterian congregation at Hampden-Sydney. An avid civil war buff, he has written numerous articles on the war and continues to be a favorite speaker at Civil War programs throughout the south. He also serves at a guest lecturer for the National Parks Service.

Although formally retired, he continues to assist churches in the area with his preaching skills and wealth of knowledge.