Widowed
The experience she would later pull from — honestly, and with humor — for every grief seminar she leads.
ABOUT
A renaissance woman who secretly desires to be a race car driver.
Ruth‑Ann Thompson is a Belonging and Acceptance expert and Kinship Care advocate. She boldly whispers into spaces of pain, hardship and grief — and her work helps others to find places where they belong.
International speaker
Author
Lyricist
Soloist
Comedian
Character actor
Her story, in her own words.
Widowed at age 24, she pulls from personal experiences to weave honesty and humor into her “Sunshine in the Shadows” Grief Seminars. She poignantly tells her story in the autobiography “Dancing in My Tattered Pink Dress.”
Known as “Mrs. T,” she has authored The Open Fielders children’s book series, created to encourage the hearts of children and parents — with themes of diversity, gratitude, facing fears and acceptance of all abilities.
She has developed a delightful comedic character, Gethel Z. Jones, the sassy senior citizen who thrills young and older alike with her down‑to‑earth antics — always in her own zany, unconventional style.
In May 2023 she graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree, showing others that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.
She secretly desires to be a race car driver.
The long way round
Sunshine in the Shadows
Grief work for churches, conferences and care teams, built on personal experience rather than theory.
Dancing in My Tattered Pink Dress
She poignantly tells her story — the book that became the centre of the collection.
The Open Fielders
A children’s series on diversity, gratitude, facing fears and acceptance of all abilities.
Bachelor of Science
Graduated — showing others that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.
Best Book Awards finalist
Recognised in Los Angeles, among the year’s finalists.
Gethel Z. Jones is still waiting on the bus to Hawaii.
The sassy senior citizen who thrills young and older alike. Churches, banquets, senior groups and school assemblies book Gethel when the room needs to laugh before it can listen.
Book Gethel for your event →BOARDING PASS · ONE WAY
Columbus → Hawaii
Departs: whenever the bus shows up
12
Titles in print — the memoir, small grief companions, and the children’s series.
2025
Finalist, Best Book Awards, Los Angeles.
B.S.
Earned May 2023 — proof it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.