Independent file photo Pat Thomas attended an Eid celebration, which marks the end of Ramadan fasting, in June of 2015 and rode a mechanical bull.

MARSHALL — If you are looking for Pat Thomas, just stop for a minute and listen. Then follow the voice. She will most likely be talking to someone, helping people or figuring out a solution to a problem.

Thomas is stepping down as Southwest Adult Basic Education director after almost 20 years of service. The agency provides “adults with educational opportunities to acquire and improve their literacy skills necessary to be self-sufficient and to participate effectively as productive workers, family members, and citizens,” according to its website.

She was a GED teacher in Tyler prior to becoming ABE director in Marshall. As a GED teacher at one point she had three students from Arco who were having trouble coming up with money for gas to drive to Tyler regularly so she went to them. The Brick Manor in Arco was open at that time so they would meet in the mornings to study.

“The bartender made coffee for us,” Thomas said. “One of the students couldn’t drive, so he had a driver. The driver needed his GED so that made four students.”

That kind of flexibility and thinking outside the box has been a successful business model for Thomas through the years.

Bruce Lamprecht, the now retired business manager for Marshall Public Schools, which is the fiscal host for ABE, worked with Thomas for many years.

“She was very innovative, very creative,” he said. “She was always looking ahead, seeing what would be the best way to deliver educational services to students. She would push the envelope for the betterment of the students.”

Lamprecht said it was always interesting working with Thomas.

“She would always have the ‘next idea’ and keep bringing it up,” he said. “She had good follow-through. I enjoyed working with her.”

A successful and innovative idea has been the implementation of an adult/youth career training. Using staff from Minnesota West Technical and Community College and working with people from SW MN Private Industry Council and Workforce, employment needs in the community such as certified nursing assistant and welding have been filled. The classes take place at Marshall Area Technical and Educational Center where adults and high schoolers can earn college credits.

When Thomas arrived in the ABE offices in 1999, she really didn’t know what she was getting in to, she said. The agency had just moved from the City Hall basement to Southwest Minnesota State University and “there were a lot of boxes in which I had no idea what was in them. I remember there was a bomb threat and that sounded like a solution for me,” she said. With no explosion to end her work troubles, she began digging into her job by visiting other programs in the metro suburbs and Mankato.

“I started to create our own programing in our own special way,” she said.

To help the burgeoning Somali population, Thomas asked the manager at the former Trident apartments if ABE could conduct classes in the laundry room.

“We got an old table from Marshall Public Schools and brought in brighter lights,” she said. Soon, there were so many the agency rented a three-bedroom apartment in the complex.

“We had tons of students. They would come home from work, take a shower and come to classes.”

When the Heartland turkey processing plant closed in 2002, many Somali workers left as well, leaving ABE with money, but fewer students, so Thomas was able to employ Sally Belgum-Blad who developed a program called “Reading Skills for Today’s Adult” in 2003.

“It’s still used today nationally,” Thomas said. “It’s on our website and is currently being revamped to today’s standards and rigor. A company in Massachusetts is turning it into distance learning you can buy but it’s free on our website.”

In 2004, area ABE consortiums joined to form Southwest Adult Basic Education which was divided into three regions: Marshall, Granite Falls, and Worthington/Jackson. By combining programs, they were able to receive more funds.

“It’s a win-win for everybody,” Thomas said. “The state used to use us as a model to force other ABEs to go into the same structure as we did.”

Lamprecht said Thomas was always able to work with local and state government entities to “get things done. She would work behind the scenes to influence others to benefit her programs. She was a visionary, but pragmatic.”

As an example, Thomas was instrumental in successfully pushing for legislation that makes adult training programs eligible to receive reimbursement for CNA expenses.

Thomas is a firm believer in working with both public and private entities to achieve goals which benefit all concerned. She said wants her legacy to be about the collaborative spirit of Marshall and how unique it is.

“If we received triple the resources, I would still collaborate,” she said.

Southwest ABE, which is now SW ABE North, has a new director for the Marshall/Granite Falls region, See Moua-Leske, who began in September.

“As the program director of the Marshall program for the past 19 plus years, it is with great pleasure I feel I can leave SW ABE in very capable and energetic hands,” Thomas said.

In her retirement, Thomas looks forward to “consulting plus spending time with some awesome grandkids and time at the lake.”