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Zoey Thomas

Zoey Linnea Ross, born Zoey Linnea Thomas on January 1, 2003, was a Black American from Portland, Oregon. She skipped a grade and met Darren Ross and Gabe Brooks in sixth grade during the 2013–2014 school year. She and Darren began dating when she was thirteen and he was fourteen, remained together through high school, and eventually married. Their son was Daniel James “DJ” Ross.

Zoey later became a medical-malpractice attorney. After working in the field, she founded Ross and Associates in her thirties. She put the surname she chose at marriage on work intended to hold medical institutions accountable.

Family and Background

Zoey grew up in Portland with her parents, Lydia Thomas, a pediatric ENT physician, and Marshall Thomas. Her parents had conceived her through in vitro fertilization on their final attempt after treatment had strained their finances. They loved her closely and protected her; Lydia worried at times that too much protection could leave Zoey unprepared, while Marshall was strict but fair. Marshall owned a successful construction company in Portland.

The Thomases provided a stable home and became part of the chosen-family network around Darren and Danny Ross during the custody proceedings. Zoey’s protected upbringing differed from Darren’s and Gabe’s, and she recognized what was happening to her friends.

At a dinner during the custody case, Marshall voiced his respect for Danny’s effort to protect Darren and secure their apartment. Darren became overwhelmed and went to the bathroom, where he cried in private. Zoey checked on him at the door. When he thanked her and promised to come out shortly, she told him, “Take your time. We’ve got two more bathrooms.” He laughed before returning to the family.

The Thomas family later helped paint Danny and Darren’s apartment and supplied blue baseball-themed bedding for Darren’s new room. Years afterward, when Darren was sixteen, they welcomed him into their home. Lydia agreed immediately; Marshall established clear household expectations, which Darren followed closely.

Zoey remained close to Lydia and Marshall as an adult. They took pride in her legal work and the firm she built.

Education and Friendship Trio

Zoey was ten when she began sixth grade in fall 2013 and turned eleven on New Year’s Day. Having skipped a grade, she was younger than Darren and Gabe but quickly became an equal third member of their friendship.

She brought a strategic, analytical approach to the group and was inclined to find something concrete to do when a problem appeared. Her intelligence did not make her condescending to the boys, and Darren valued the intensity with which she cared. She refused to treat his family crisis as shameful or make pity the basis of their relationship.

Zoey and Gabe became close in their own right. His relaxed approach sometimes frustrated her when she had already made a plan, while he could find her urgency excessive. Early in their friendship, Gabe sometimes called her “bossy,” including in front of other people. Zoey objected to a label she had seen used against assertive Black girls, and they argued about it more than once. After Darren explained its effect to Gabe, he stopped using it and their friendship deepened. Their closeness continued alongside Zoey’s relationship with Darren.

Main article: Gabe Brooks and Zoey Thomas

After Rachel Williams entered the school in January 2014, a teacher asked Zoey to help her become oriented. Zoey walked with Rachel between classes, invited her to the group’s lunch table, and became Rachel’s first friend at the school. Their academic performance placed the two girls alongside one another at the top of the class.

Walking home together, they discovered that Zoey’s home at 477 Laurelwood Avenue was directly across from Rachel’s at 482. Zoey explained why Danny rather than Darren’s parents collected him from school, while Rachel sought to understand without pitying him. During Chrissie’s illness, Zoey invited Rachel to walk to the bus stop with her; Rachel chose to change her usual departure routine so her mother could rest. Zoey later invited Rachel to Lloyd Center with Lydia, and Chrissie joined them. Zoey held Chrissie’s hand and helped her remain with the group, while Rachel shared her mother’s pleasure in jewelry and puppies.

Main article: Rachel Williams’s First Day at Portland Public School (January 2014) - Event

Personality, Identity, and Communication

As a petite student who had skipped a grade, Zoey asserted herself when she needed to be heard and continued speaking up after Gabe’s “bossy” label became a point of conflict. Being known as the exceptionally smart child also left her with pressure to be right and difficulty asking for help. She could move quickly into solving another person’s problem, including one that person had not asked her to solve.

Her planning grew more assured with age, but she did not lose her directness, loyalty, or dry humor. With Darren and Gabe, she could tease and laugh easily; she often used “we” when speaking of herself and Darren. In professional settings she code-switched; when frustrated, she tended to become quieter and more precise rather than louder. Her attention to how others spoke to her as a Black girl remained part of how she judged whether a person was listening.

Physical Characteristics and Presentation

Zoey was petite as a child and commonly wore her hair in braids and other protective styles. Darren was much larger than she was even when she was twelve. She remained petite as an adult, with warm brown skin and expressive eyes. She wore her natural hair in braids, twists, locs, and wash-and-go curls at different times.

Relationship with Darren Ross

Main article: Darren Ross and Zoey Thomas

Zoey met Darren while the instability in his parents’ household was becoming visible. She stayed beside him through the custody case, joined the community move into his first safe home, and later watched her parents make him part of their household.

The two began dating in 2016, when Zoey was thirteen and Darren fourteen. When Zoey was fifteen and Darren sixteen, Darren moved into the Thomas home to ease the responsibility he believed Danny was carrying as Danny and Jess managed Caleb’s medical needs. Zoey and her parents already understood that Darren was not a temporary presence in their lives.

Zoey took Darren’s surname when they married. Their son, Daniel James “DJ” Ross, was named for both Darren and Daniel Jacob “Danny” Ross.

Danny’s sudden death in 2022 affected Zoey through her own history with him and through the scale of Darren’s loss. She did not treat Darren’s grief as something she could cure or hurry. Gabe remained part of their lives, and the trio continued into adulthood after Darren and Zoey became a couple.

Zoey also saw how Darren’s grief returned around Danny’s birthday and the anniversary of his death. She supported his continuing contact with Caleb and the stories he told his nephew about Danny. Naming their son Daniel honored Danny without asking the child to replace him.

Career

Zoey chose medical-malpractice law, a field connected to the institutional failures she had witnessed in the lives of Darren, Danny, and other Black and disabled patients. Darren’s asthma went unrecognized until an emergency, his migraines went inadequately evaluated, and Danny’s chronic illnesses complicated his fight for Darren’s guardianship. Zoey also carried her own experience of preparing carefully for medical appointments to make sure she was heard. She first worked within an established practice, building experience before founding Ross and Associates in her thirties.

Her work included clients and claims other firms might dismiss as too difficult or undervalued. She studied patterns and inconsistencies in medical records, pressed institutions for fuller accountability, and resisted settlements she believed fell short of what clients deserved. Taking the Ross name into her practice mattered to her and Darren: she attached it to protection and advocacy rather than the harm Darren associated with David, Dana, and Drake.

Darren was openly proud of her. He listened to the cases and institutional patterns she discussed, remembered details, and treated her professional life as important in its own right.

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