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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Geraldine F. "Geri" Thompson |
| Address | 511 West South St
Orlando, Florida 32805-2761, United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
November 18, 1948
(75 years)
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| Contributor | Some say... |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Jun 24, 2016 05:52pm |
| Tags |
Married - NAACP - Baptist -
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| Info | Geraldine F. Thompson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and grew up in the South Dade town of Perrine, Florida where members of her family worked in agriculture and construction. Her parents, Vardaman and Annie Mae Fortenberry, had another child, Willie Lee and separated before she finished elementary school. She was raised in a large extended family, which included her mother's parents and their eight daughters and seven sons. The large family lived in a row of four houses that made up their compound or quarters. As a young girl, Geraldine's responsibilities at home included cooking family meals, helping with the laundry and occasionally working in the fields. She was raised in the Pentecostal Church and remains an active Christian.
Geraldine's mother, Annie Mae, completed high school and earned a two-year teachers certificate in Mississippi in the 1940s. Before she entered elementary school, her mother taught her to read and write. Her love for books, words and letters began at that time and she excelled in the academic arena. After graduating from Mays High School in 1966, Geraldine entered Miami Dade Community College and was one of the first students to graduate from its Kendall Campus. To finance her tuition at Miami Dade where she studied from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., she worked full time from 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. at the Economic Opportunity Program Institute (EOPI) in Perrine.
At EOPI, she identified and tapped into a wide variety of social service agencies to address the needs of the low income residents in South Dade. Her career or community service began before she earned a college degree. When not working, Geraldine devoted every available hour to her college studies. She graduated from Miami Dade with honors and received a John F. Kennedy/Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship to attend the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida where she enrolled shortly after that school ended racial segregation. In 1970, she received a bachelors degree in journalism and business education from the University of Miami. That same year, she met and married Emerson R. Thompson, Jr., a native of Jacksonville who had attended Bethune Cookman College before transferring and graduating from the University of Florida.
Geraldine returned to the Miami Dade Community College Kendall Campus as an instructor. She left after a year to join her husband, Emerson, who had enrolled in the College of Law at Florida State University in Tallahassee. After working several years to help Emerson support the cost of a law school education, Geraldine enrolled in the College of Communication at Florida State University. After completing law school, Emerson accepted a position in Orlando as an Assistant State Attorney. He paid her tuition for graduate school and she received a Master of Science in Communication from Florida State University in 1973. She joined her husband in Orlando and became active in the Central Florida community.
Based on her experiences, Geraldine felt strongly that education was the key to removing barriers to greater participating in American society. She began work in Orlando as a teacher in the Orange County Public School System. After six years, she left the classroom to accept a position as Director of the Equal Opportunity Office at Valencia Community College where she served for 24 years as Assistant to the President. She coupled her professional responsibilities with community service and raising a young and growing family. She served on the Orange County Community Action Advisory Board and the Board of the newly established Metropolitan Orlando Urban League. Her husband sponsored her for membership in the Downtown Orlando Rotary Club and she became the first African American female to be a member of that group.
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