Part & Apart in the Thirties

Sarah E. Thomas earned an A.B. in Economics in three and a half years and spent the second semester of her last year doing graduate work in sociology and family life. She was active in the Cornell Women’s Debate Club as well as in Cornell United Religious Workers, doing social work at local agencies. Thomas was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and after graduating, attended the Boston Summer Laboratory on Social and Industrial Conditions and then volunteered with the Boston Urban League.

Thomas married James L. Curwood, had two children, and built an impressive career. After earning a doctorate from Radcliffe College, she became a professor of Sociology, retiring from Rhode Island College in 1984. Her activism and community service were varied. She served as regional training officer for Project Headstart for New Hampshire and Vermont, was an avid conservationist, and served on the boards of Planned Parenthood, the Girl Scouts, The American Friends Service Committee, the Friends National Committee on Legislation in Washington, D.C., and Guilford College in North Carolina.