David J. Whelan, RIP

Please pray for the repose of the soul of David J. Whelan, a longtime friend of the College who died on May 1. Mr. Whelan and his wife, Pat, were, as his obituary describes, “among the earliest community volunteers for the innovative Thomas Aquinas College at its founding.” Living in Westlake Village, California, at the time, the Whelans were good friends of Peggy and Lt. Col. William S. Lawton, Jr., one of the College’s founders. At the Lawtons’ invitation, Mr. and Mrs. Whelan agreed to join the College’s first development committee in the 1970s and, as such, played a vital role in helping Thomas Aquinas College to get started.

“I especially remember a splendid conversation with Pat nearly a decade ago,” recalls Tom Susanka, the College’s emeritus director of gift planning. “She spoke as though she and David were longtime friends with anyone associated with Thomas Aquinas College. As it turned out, David was already committed to the College while I was in my freshman year, way back in 1973. So the kindly and eager conversation we enjoyed that day reminded me of my own youthful joy at finding Thomas Aquinas College And it was, in its way, a most remarkable manifestation of David's and Pat's continuing youthful enthusiasm for what they had discovered all those years ago.”

Please pray for the consolation of Mrs. Whelan as well as for that of their family.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.
Amen.