Nancy Thomas

Barclay Press books by Thomas

When asked about her spiritual gifts, Nancy Thomas might claim ambiguity, indirection, clarity, or playfulness. Nancy discovered her vocation at the age of seven when she wrote her first poem, a bouncy murder mystery in iambic pentameter. Encouraged by parents and teachers, she began filling up notebooks with poetic reflections on just about everything. She never stopped.

Today Nancy describes her vocation as “a poet who sees and expresses the grace of God hidden in the ordinariness of life.”

After graduating from George Fox College (now University) with a major in Spanish, Nancy went on to earn graduate degrees from the University of Oregon and Fuller Theological Seminary. But she confesses she’d rather write a poem than a dissertation any day (even though poems are harder to write).

Along the roads traveled since that seven-year-old made her discovery, Nancy and her husband, Hal, have lived in Latin America, mostly Bolivia, “Friends Serving Abroad” through the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends. Although originally sent as a teacher, while there she learned about friendship, hospitality, family, culture, language, and grace.

Nancy and Hal are members of the North Valley Friends Church in Newberg, Oregon. Their two children, son David and daughter Kristin, are married and have blessed them with seven grandchildren (who provide infinite material for poems of gritty grace).

Currently Hal and Nancy are leading a team of Bolivian researchers and writers in recording the one-hundred-year history of the Bolivian Friends Church.