Geraldine Morgan Thompson, known as the “First Lady of New Jersey,” moved to Brookdale Farm upon her marriage in 1896 and lived there until her death in 1967. During her lifetime, she served as New Jersey’s first woman state delegate to the Republican National Convention and became the first woman appointed to a state board in New Jersey, serving eight consecutive terms on the Board of Control of the State Department of Institutions and Agencies. Using her networking skills, she worked to reform early health and welfare programs within the state and county, including the establishment of a county tuberculosis hospital and the founding of the Monmouth County Organization of Social Services, now the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey. Her principal goal in life was to help the unfortunate through charitable work, and her pioneering role in New Jersey politics and social reform linked Brookdale Farm, later Thompson Park, to the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail.