Author and motivational speaker J.R. Thompson speaks with first hand experience about the substances of the books he has published as well as his personal mission that he shares across the State of Florida and the country.
78-year-old Thompson does not have to spend time researching or brainstorming for presentation material. Thompson has lived first hand the experiences he shares. The day-by-day real life occurrences was his own. From those days of physical and emotional torture came the voice and passion he now testifies with.
The account of Thompson’s teenage and young adult years can be read through his latest book, The Wrong Way Home. The account of these brutal years spent in Ohio’s Chillicothe Reformatory depicts the troubling encounters of the emotional and horrendous physical torture forced upon him.
Thompson currently resides in Milton. He uses every opportunity offered to share his encounters within Florida’s school systems, civic organizations, churches, the Florida Department of Education and the juvenile justice system.
“I was lucky, many carry the scars of the torture with them for the rest of their lives,” Thompson shared with the Milton Kiwanis Club. “I had no high school education, could not find a job, after I left the reformatory and I finally made it to basic training I knew what to do.” He found that he was mentally prepared for standing in lines waiting for food and following stringent instructions. He spent four years in the US Air Force.
Thompson’s presentation enlightened the Milton Kiwanis’s desire to continue their support of area youth and youth programs. The Milton Kiwanis provides monetary as well as hands on assistance to numerous programs through out Santa Rosa County.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: J.R. Thompson visited with Milton Kiwanis