Lois Jean Thomas was raised in rural Brown County, Indiana, near the tiny village of Bean Blossom.  Her father was the founder and minister of the Bean Blossom Mennonite Church.  Thus, her earliest influences were a combination of the Mennonite tradition and the local culture that grew up out of the hills and woods of Brown County.  She lived in Goshen, Indiana, for most of her adult life, where she raised her three children.  For the past eleven years, she has lived with her husband Allen in Saint Joseph, Michigan, on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Lois earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Goshen College, followed by a Master’s degree from Indiana University.  She enjoyed a career in Clinical Social Work.  Additionally, she earned certificates in Therapeutic Massage and Healing Touch, and enjoyed a secondary career practicing those specialties.  In shaping the characters in her novels, she draws upon what she learned in her career about human nature and the peculiarities of human emotions and behavior.

In 2010, Lois went through the most traumatic event of her life when she was struck by a car as a pedestrian.  She sustained a brain injury in the accident, which created challenges that brought her professional career to an end.  Despite her grief over what she lost, the experience has been an opportunity for growth in other areas of her life.  She turned to writing as the primary outlet for her creativity.  Her vision has been affected by her brain injury, and she is able to write for only a limited amount of time each day.  But that writing time has become special to her.  Lois’s intention as an author is to write books that open the hearts of her readers and move them toward a deeper understanding of themselves and others.