INTERNATIONAL
thanksgiving
21
The story of a displaced Pawtuxet Native American and the Mayflower pilgrims is the bedrock of the
Thanksgiving holiday: In 1621 Squanto was living in his Massachusetts birthplace years after being
kidnapped and held captive New World, his entire Pawtuxet fin Spain and England. Upon his return to North America, then known as the
tribe had been wiped out by plague. That year, the Pilgrims arrived on
the Mayflower near where Squanto was living with a Wampanoag tribe. He welcomed them, ultimately
helping them to survive and thrive as foreigners in the New World. It’s a story of forgiveness, redemption,
cultural exchange and thanks. our hundred years later, overlooking Bradley Creek on Hooker Road
in Wilmington, North Carolina, the story of the indigenous Squanto and the Pilgrims
is kept alive by University of North Carolina Wilmington Professor of Economics Tom
Simpson, who retired after 30 years at the Federal Reserve to teach at the UNCW, and
his wife Cindy. Since 2008, two years after the couple, shown above, relocated from
Washington, D.C., they have hosted a house full of international students for a spirited
Thanksgiving feast that metaphorically reenacts the moment when Squanto became
an ambassador to the Pilgrims. In conjunction with UNCW’s International Student
Organization (ISO) and the school’s Faculty Commons Christian group, the Simpsons
organize the meal, filling their home with enough seats and place settings for as many as
BY D.J. BERNARD 117 students and 49 faculty members and friends.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Dr. Tom and Cindy Simpson
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CINDY SIMPSON