Bringing Rosa Parks to Wooster & other inspiring tales in Lydia Thompson's new book

WOOSTER − The stories in Lydia Thompson's book, "Retrieving the Wheatfield: Look Where He Brought Me From," take her from a child living on a plantation in South Carolina to an adult making a significant impact on Wayne County.

Discussing in an interview her book, which gelled over a period of three to four years, the 91-year-old Thompson asked, "Do you know who you are?"

"Many people in America don't know who they are," said Thompson, whose own identity encompasses roles in government, social work, health care and education.

"If you know who you are, you won't go around labeling people you don't know," she said. "You don't know everything, and neither do I."

A book sale and signing by Thompson is slated for noon to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Wayne County Public Library, 220 W. Liberty Street.

Lydia Thompson's story of resilience and faith

In story after story detailing discrimination, injustice and triumph over the tragedy experienced by her and her family as she grew to adulthood, Thompson relates how she relied on the faith she has carried throughout her life.

Thompson quoted her mother, Sally Lee Patterson Gilyard, as saying, "There's gonna come a day when we will see the light of a new way to live, a new hope. … We gonna climb as long as God is on our side."

Her father, Abraham Gilyard, a sharecropper's son, told his 10 children that those who came before them hoped "for a better life… we come a long way, but it ain't over yet. We still got some hard times a coming."

Thompson and her family moved to Wooster at the beginning of the 1940s from a plantation in segregated South Carolina. They and other African American families were "seeking freedom, justice and opportunity," one of her six children, Bonnie Mootry Engram, wrote in a statement about the book.

Thompson, married to the late Rev. Rufus Thompson for more than 60 years, made herself known as a woman of purpose and persistence in just about every area of the community.

She was instrumental in the effort to name a street in honor of Rosa Parks, whom she once invited to speak at an annual meeting of the Wooster chapter of the NAACP.

Meeting Rose Parks and other memories

Daughter Vicki Saunders recalled a visit home from college.

"I walked into the living room, and (Parks) was standing (there). I dropped my laundry," Saunders said.

One of Thompson's favorite memories revolves around her involvement in Wooster being named an All-America City in 1974, when she was president of the Wayne County Council on Aging.

"We beat Pontiac, Michigan," she said with pride because Pontiac was then rampant with discrimination.

Thompson frequently punctuates her remarks with a thumbs-up gesture, demonstrating her positive spin on life.

Lydia Thompson's word in Wooster and Wayne County

Thompson has been featured in The Daily Record multiple times, and articles about her are included in her book.

Among the achievements of Thompson, a graduate of Wooster High School, are earning a degree from Wayne Practical Nursing School, Wooster Business College in real estate and the University of Akron Wayne College in social work and gerontology.

Her community service efforts have been wide ranging, including being a member of the Wooster City School District and the Wayne County Schools Career Center Board of Education and serving United Way, the YMCA, NAACP and Quota Club.

Among her numerous awards are the University of Akron Wayne College's first Distinguished Alumni Award and membership in the Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

One of Thompson's favorite endeavors has been performing "Famous Black Women: Voices of the Past, Present and Future," portraying Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Miss Jane Pittman, Mary McLeod Bethune and Parks.

Thompson said she worked hard on her reenactments, copying their dialect and "what they said, how they sounded."

Thompson's book is compiled partly from journal entries she penned in longhand over the years.Saunders said she took it upon herself to sit down and type the entire book, all 237 pages, for publication, beginning in January.

"What is the wheat field? The wheat field is about a family who joins in increasing the knowledge of who they are and where they are going by God's grace," states the final page of Thompson's book.

Additional information is available from Engram at 708-261-4032 or bomo1954@comcast.net.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Lydia Thompson, 91, to discuss new book at Wayne County Library