Thelma was tenth in the family of 12 children, born September 8, 1903, to Thomas and Anna Florence Ballard Thompson of Holy Cross, Ky. Her formal education began in the one‑room Clarktown School. When the Ursuline Sisters opened a school at Holy Cross, Thelma was one of their first fifth grade pupils. At the age of 19, Thelma entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph, following her sister Myrtle, who had entered in 1917. On August 15, 1923, Thelma received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Thomas Ann.
Sister Thomas Ann’s apostolate of teaching began in 1924 at St. Peter School, Waverly, Ky., where she taught the upper elementary grades. Her years of teaching took her to other Kentucky schools: Fancy Farm (St. Denis), St. Lawrence, Shively (St. Denis), Mayfield, Stanley, Flaherty, Fairfield and Louisville (St. Columba, St. Margaret Mary). Out-of-state assignments were in Glennonville and Affton, Mo., and Nebraska City, Neb. She served as principal and local superior during most of these years and often had to deal with pastors who were very demanding. In time, this stress took its toll on her physical and psychological health.
Sister Thomas Ann retired from active duty and returned to Mount Saint Joseph in 1965. Prayer and suffering became her principal ministry. However, she also served as assistant director of the Academy and College students’ dining room, tended flower gardens, prepared vegetables and fruits for meals and for canning, and assisted the sacristan and the seamstress.
Her death came quietly on January 14, 1990. Father Anthony Shonis, chaplain, was the celebrant and homilist at the funeral Mass on January 16. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Her Ursuline sister, Sister Dominica, had preceded her in death.