William & Anne Stocks

This panel portrays William and Anne Stocks standing arm in arm in a golden field of grain. William Stocks is a retired president and CEO of the Peavey Co., a grain company now part of ConAgra Inc. A 1953 St. Thomas graduate, he also was a member of the St. Thomas board of trustees from 1978 to 1988 and served on the Catholic Charities board.

Grain has symbolic significance in reaping what you have sown. Wheat is a symbol of staple food, of nourishment for both physical and spiritual means. It relates to the cycle of life theme found in the Hope fresco. Like Ann and William, Mark Balma, who works closely with his wife, felt this to be an important symbol for young people today. As in the Temperance fresco, the Stocks seem planted, solid in their field of wavering wheat.