Faculty, staff, friends and students of Carol Thysell attended an informal gathering May 24 to commemorate the associate professor of philosophy and religion department. Thysell died May 19 after a two-year fight against ovarian cancer. She was 51 years old. “Carol was very special, uplifting and cheerful,” said Don Habibi, associate professor of philosophy and religion. “Everybody loved her.”

Students found Thysell to be a caring, energetic teacher with a passion for her subject matter. “You don’t meet many people like Carol Thysell in a lifetime,” said Jo Anne Seiple, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “She had no idea how many people’s lives she touched.”

A graduate of the University of Chicago’s doctoral program and the Yale University Divinity School, Thysell’s work focused mostly on early modern women in religion and literature and religion. “This may sound like a contradiction, but she was the strongest, most gentle feminist I’ve ever met,” Thysell’s friend Karen Atwill said. Thysell has written one book, titled “The Pleasure of Discernment: Marguerite de Navarre as Theologian” and published by Oxford University Press in September of 2000. Thysell was born March 24, 1950 in Moorhead, Minn. She lived in Wilmington for ____ years “She was my very good friend,” said Assistant Professor of philosophy and religion Nathaniel Samuel Murrell. “We got here at the same time; our offices were close together; we compared notes and syllabi. Carol was special.”