Born in Weehawken, New Jersey to Walter Scott Thomson and Mary van Kuykendall Thomson, he graduated from Weehawken High School and attended Columbia University, where he graduated in English as a classmate of Thomas Merton.
He was ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 1940, and volunteered to serve as a naval chaplain during the Second World War.
Thomson served parishes in New Jersey before becoming rector of St. Stephen's Church (Providence, Rhode Island).
Thomson served as a full professor and administrator at Providence College from 1959, overseeing the implementation of coeducation at the school.
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