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Sam & Tom Thrift
Written by Beth Friend
Chances are, few Anderson University students know the names Sam and Tom Thrift
But campus wouldn’t look the same without them. Indeed, you would be hard pressed to walk anywhere on this campus and not see their handiwork.
Tom Thrift passed away in 2018. Sam Thrift, his twin brother, died in 2021. But for more than 40 years they were involved in every major project on campus and contributed to every campaign.
At his first spring commencement in 2003—20 years ago—Dr. Whitaker honored several friends with some of the first honorary doctorates awarded under his administration. Two of those honorees were Sam and Tom Thrift, men who literally shaped the campus and spirit of Anderson University.
Sam and Tom Thrift came from humble beginnings in Long Creek, South Carolina. A small hamlet in Oconee County, fewer than 100 people live in Long Creek today. Then, as now, people in this rural community were taught at an early age the importance of family, friends, faith and service. Sam and Tom Thrift were no different.
They worked hard in the family logging business before heading off to war at age 19. During those years, they had the opportunity to learn about heavy equipment operations and large-scale earthmoving engineering as they worked to clean up a region devastated by the war.
When they returned to the states, they put that knowledge to work and joined with their other brothers to launch several successful businesses, including road construction and commercial property development, which would be a huge focus of Sam and Tom’s careers—and their association with Anderson University.
‘Anderson… is a significantly better place as a result of the 40+ years of leadership, influence and hard work of Samuel E. Thrift and Thomas E. Thrift… The Thrifts are builders— they build roads, they build buildings, they build friendships, they build community, they have helped build and continue to help build Anderson… they invest in people’s lives, they spread joy and kindness and love, and they make the world a brighter place in which to live.
– Evans P. Whitaker, Ph.D
President & Professor of Management,
Leadership & Organizations
Their support began during the presidency of Anderson President Dr. J. Ed Rouse in the early 1970s. As a Baptist institution of higher education, Anderson drew the lifelong support of the entire Thrift family. As Sam Thrift said in his autobiography, Thrift: Building a Life, “…only at an intentionally Christian university can one obtain a complete education of the mind, body and soul that integrates faith and learning and ultimately enriches our understanding of who God is and humanity’s place of great privilege and responsibility in God’s world. At Anderson, not only do students address the question of what they want to do in life, but also of what kind of person they want to be as a servant to God and humanity.”
‘…only at an intentionally Christian university can one obtain a complete education of the mind, body and soul that integrates faith and learning and ultimately enriches our understanding of who God is and humanity’s place of great privilege and responsibility in God’s world. At Anderson, not only do students address the question of what they want to do in life, but also of what kind of person they want to be as a servant to God and humanity.
Excerpt for Sam Thrift’s autobiography,
Thrift: Building a Life
From that point on, the Thrift brothers were true servants and invaluable partners to Anderson and every succeeding president until their deaths. They helped with numerous campus construction and renovation projects, including the president’s home, the parking area behind Rainey, the parking lot and prep work for Kingsley residence hall, the former tennis courts on front campus, the front campus drive and curbing (including the brick pathway that students walk on at graduation), the Faculty Office Building, Merritt, the Sullivan building, the Student Center…the list goes on and on. (Literally, until the most recent years, the majority of the paved surfaces you walked on around campus were done by Sam and Tom’s businesses, usually as a gift or at a greatly reduced cost.) And what they did not do personally, they encouraged others to do, helping the University gain even more supporters.
But their legacy was etched in stone when they were given naming rights to the largest construction project in Anderson history at that point: Thrift Library. Their portraits can be seen on the main level just outside the Chapman Multimedia Center. Not that they were fond of the effort; indeed, the brothers humbly tried to prevent their family name from being put on the building.
The dedicatory plaque at the library reads, in part: “For half a century, these gentlemen served Anderson University as faithful trustees, generous supporters, and tireless advocates for Christian higher education.” There is no doubt that Sam and Tom Thrift will always be known as some of Anderson University’s best friends.
When conferring their honorary doctorates in 2003, Dr. Whitaker tried to convey the immeasurable value of these brothers to this institution. “Anderson…is a significantly better place as a result of the 40+ years of leadership, influence and hard work of Samuel E. Thrift and Thomas E. Thrift… The Thrifts are builders—they build roads, they build buildings, they build friendships, they build community, they have helped build and continue to help build Anderson… they invest in people’s lives, they spread joy and kindness and love, and they make the world a brighter place in which to live.”
Sam and Tom and their brothers did not set out to build a name for themselves, but a life. They were just living out the values they had been taught. “We make a living by what we get…we make a life by what we give,” Sam Thrift said. And what a life they lived. What a story they told.