George Barrett (Pies Are Not For Breakfast) was born in Cairo, Illinois and grew up in New Orleans, with many trips to see Mama Durrett and his extended family in Arcadia, Louisiana. He retired to Wildwood, Texas—an unincorporated community near Kountze. George passed away in his garden in 1998, in the bosom of family, friends, and the love of his community at Wildwood. Copyright © 2004, Small Town USA.
Grace Barrett-Smith (I’d Rather Die than Be Sick) grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she encountered the biggest, baddest nurse in the hospital. Her family keeps her memory alive with stories like this one. Copyright © 2004, Small Town USA.
Lisa Beatman (Kindest Cut, co-written with her father, Bernard Beatman). Her work has been published in Lonely Planet, Lilith Magazine, and the Hawaii Pacific Review. Her book, Ladies’ Night at the Blue Hill Spa, was published by Bear House Publishing. Copyright © 2003, Lisa Beatman. Used by permission. lisabeatman@alumni.ksg.harvard.edu
Dorothy Hastings Booth (Scout’s Honor) moved from Biloxi to Mississippi City at age nine, then lived in Germany and California before returning home. Sixty years later she collected her Mississippi memories into a book, Moments of Memories. Copyright © 2004, Dorothy Booth. Used by permission. magicdragondb@webtv.net
Renie Burghardt (Just Doin’ What Crickets Do) is a freelance writer with credits in Chicken Soup, Chocolate for Women, Listening to the Animals, and Cup of Comfort. She lives in the Ozarks of Missouri and enjoys observing nature. Copyright © 2003, Renie Burghardt. Used by permission. renie_burghardt@yahoo.com
Renee Cassese (The Bookmobile) has lived on Long Island her whole life. After fifteen years as a special education teacher, she is writing fiction and personal essays and hopes to make freelance writing her full time job. When she’s not writing Renee can be found in the garden or making homemade bread and soups. Copyright © 2003, Renee Cassese. Used by permission.
Tess Collins (Trees at Granny’s House) is a coal miner’s granddaughter with Cherokee ancestry on her mother’s side and a legend of being descended from a mountain clan known as the Seven Sisters. Raised in the southeastern Kentucky town of Middlesboro, she heard mountain tales of haunted hollows, ghosts, moonshiners and unsolved murders. Her published books include The Law of Betrayal and several plays such as Tossing Monte. She has published articles on writing for Byline Magazine and The Writer. She received a B.A. from the University of Kentucky and a Ph.D. from The Union Institute. She lives in San Francisco where she manages The Curran Theatre. Copyright © 2003, Tess Collins. Used by permission. www.tesscollins.com
Barbara Conley (Outdoor Plumbing) lives with her husband in a small village named Garden City, Colorado, population 250 about 35 miles east of Fort Collins near the University of Northern Colorado campus where she is manages the cooks in a large dining facility. A proud grandmother of seven, Barbara is the descendant of Germans-from-Russia immigrants and loves researching their history. Barb occasionally sees Brother Jack who still teaches sixth grade at Eyestone Elementary School in Wellington, Colorado. Copyright © 2003, Barbara Conley. Used by permission. barbiconley@yahoo.com
Hilda Danowsky (Sleeping Chickens) grew up on a wheat farm in Fairmount, North Dakota, with a population of about 500 people and four major railroads. The whole family farmed 320 acres, a one-half section. Her childhood, filled with floods, droughts, and hard work on the farm, is the source for much of her writing. Recapturing these memories has been a great adventure. Copyright © 2003, Hilda Danowsky. Used by permission.
Eleanor Dasenbrook (A Mother’s Legacy) has been a teacher with the Arlington Public Schools for 31 years, teaching grades kindergarten through eight. She currently teaches a behavioral intervention program for at-risk middle school students. Interests beyond her career involvements include the presidency of the Alpha Omicron chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international honor society for women educators, writing, mentoring, travels—especially to Japan and Korea, gardening and an interest with related hobbies in the textile arts. Copyright © 2003, Eleanor Dasenbrook. Used by permission.
Barbara Deming (Do You Hear Them Bells?, Jailhouse View) lives, writes, and directs writing workshops in San Marcos, CA. A Pushcart nominee, she has published over 200 pieces in national magazines, small presses, newsletters and newspapers. Her collection of short stories, The Quiltmaker, is available through Southern Star Publishing at BookstarPR@aol.com. Copyright © 2003, Barbara Deming. Used by permission.
Ed Dillon (The Levitation of Chester McAllen) grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge in Virginia. Ed swears this story is true, and made even more accurate by looking back through the lens of time. Copyright © 2003, Ed Dillon. Used by permission. tdillon@sitestar.net
Lois Dorow Druhan (The Christmas Program, A Lesson in Baths) was born in 1928 on a farm near Garner, Iowa. After college she taught high school English, did social work, and became a probation officer in California in 1962. Retired in 1987, she participates in the California Writers Club and writes a monthly column, Coffee with Lois, for her church newsletter. Copyright © 2003, Lois Dorow Druhan. Used by permission. loisdruhan@comcast.net
Beverly Galante (Accidental Farmer) has restored five historic homes with her husband and built four from scratch, which is how she devel-oped a love affair with hardware stores that still continues. A practicing artist her entire life, she makes a living creating custom stained glass windows for homes and churches. She tells stories in words and in art. Raised in New England, many of her stories focus on that region of the country. Copyright © 2004, Beverly Galante. Used by permission. fumpart@yahoo.com www.creativeartssociety.org
Horace Givens (The Globe) lives in Orono, Maine and Mesa, Arizona. His stories have appeared in various publications including Peeks and Valleys, Echoes, Potato Eyes, The Stolen Island Review, The Threshold, and M Magazine. He has published articles on former major league baseball players in Baseball Digest and as biographical entries for a number of sports anthologies. A member of the Maine Writer’s & Publishers Alliance, the Mystery Writers of America, and the East Valley Writers of Mesa, he has recently completed his second novel. Copyright © 2003, Horace Givens. Used by permission.
Lee Hachey (My Dog Tippy, The Pigeon Who Loved Me) grew up in the small New England town of Athol, Massachusetts when the iceman delivered his wares in a horse drawn wagon and a little boy could freely explore the town and the countryside. Lee has enjoyed two careers, first as an electrical engineer and later as a psychotherapist. Today he lives in California and enjoys travel, woodworking, digital photography, and sharing his memoirs. His boyhood stories are collected in his book, Growing Up By Myself In A Large Family. Copyright © 2003, Lee Hachey. Used by permission. leejeanne@cox.net
Charles Hile (The Last Cigarette) Copyright © 2004, Charles Hile. Used by permission.
Elisabeth Jochimsen (A Pool at Sawpit Wash) grew up in Duarte, California. She swam in the pool at the Sawpit Wash for most of her youth. She served as a geologist in the US Navy as a Wave in World War II and now writes, even with a visual handicap, with good friends in her creative writing class. Copyright © 2003, Elisabeth Jochimsen. Used by permission.
Theresa Jodray-Koch (Goodbye, Grambo) holds a Masters in the Science of Parapsychic Science. A freelance photographer and writer, her work inspires people of all walks of life. Her poetry is admired for its spiritual beauty and its truthful expression of her love for the creation in northern Alaska. She has published numerous articles on paranormal and parapsychic events.. Copyright © 2003, Theresa Jodray-Koch. Used by permission. www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?AuthorID=2093
Heide AW Kaminski (Run for Your Life, Santa) is a published author and freelance writer. Born and raised in Germany, she has lived in the USA since 1984. She has three children she gave birth to and at least two more, who just sort of blended into the family. Two of her children, Sarah and Angela Wyse, are also breaking into the publishing world. Her most recent book is Get Smart Through Art, which is filled with art projects for pre-school children. Copyright © 2003, Heidi Kaminski. Used by permission. www.thewriterslife.net/Kaminski.html
mommyk@tc3net.com
David Lahar (Drafted by the Elks) Copyright © 2004, Small Town USA. Born and raised in Pomona, California, David saw his baseball career peak in Little League with the Pomona Optimists. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two daughters, writing business plans and selling companies. Copyright © 2004, David Lahar. Used by permission. dlahar@aurigapartners.com
Ray Lahar (Moving Day on the Lake, Whistlin’ Rufus) spent his child-hood in Newport, VT, the second-youngest of nine children. He served in the Army during World War II, fighting in North Africa, Italy and France. He was awarded the Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Distinguished Service Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and the Bronze Star four times. He taught at Pomona High School for thirty years and earned Fulbright Scholarships to Greece and Italy. Retired in 1987, Ray now writes and enjoys time with his wife, two children and four grandchildren. His collection of stories, The Fire of Life, was published in 1998. Copyright © 2003, Ray Lahar. Used by permission.
Marcel LaPerriere (An Elementary Lesson) grew up in Colorado. He and his wife have lived on a sailboat in Ketchikan, Alaska for the past twenty years. They enjoy sailing, backpacking, showshoeing, caving, rock climbing, and travel. Currently Marcel works as a carpenter, but, like most Alaskans who live in small towns, he does a bit of everything to make ends meet. Copyright © 2003, Marcel LaPerriere. Used by permission.
Roger MacDonald (Heaven, A Man Does) is a retired family physician. During his forty-six years of active practice, he worked in a remote northern Minnesota village where forestry, hardscrabble farming, and tourism provided the economic lifeblood of the community. He also provided care to an isolated Chippewa reservation. Later he taught rural medicine at the University of Minnesota medical school, traveling all over Minnesota to rural medical offices. Now he reads his stories on the radio in his home town in Minnesota. The Minnesota Historical Society Press published A Country Doctor’s Casebook, Tales from the North Woods in 2002. Copyright © 2003, Roger MacDonald. Used by permission.
Annie Malone (The Old Farts of Snowflake). In her current incarnation, Annie is an old hippie who lives in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. She has too many dogs and horses, and is always trying to get someone to lend her a new piece of heavy equipment to learn how to drive. Copyright © 2003, Annie Malone. Used by permission. annie@kissingrock.com www.kissingrock.com
William E. Marks (A Ride for Nature) graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has spent most of his life experiencing and protecting water resources, and is the author of The Holy Order of Water, Healing Earth’s Waters and Ourselves, and The History of Wind Power on Martha’s Vineyard. He is a founding publisher of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine and Nantucket Magazine. In 1988 and 1992 he received Golden Poet awards from the World of Poetry, and was inducted into the Homer Honor Society of International Poets in 1992. He lives on Martha’s Vineyard and Hawaii. Copyright © 2003, William E. Marks. Used by permission. williamemarks@smalltownusa.net
Ben Mayberry (Catch of the Day) graduated from Rice University with a degree in accounting. After finding success in high-technology in Houston, he finally achieved his dream of owning a ranch just outside Medina, Texas, in the hill country near San Antonio. He raises exotic game. Contact him (ben.mayberry@usa.net) to go hunting there for axis deer, white-tail deer, and emus. Copyright © 2004, Small Town USA.
Adele McDowell (Welcome Home, Amanda) grew up in northeast Iowa. She earned a B.A. degree from Luther College in the area and later an M.A. from Central Washington University. She is lead facilitator for Parents Anonymous, a national organization dedicated to strengthening families all across America. An avid choral singer, she recently performed in Carnegie Hall, and will join another group for a presentation in Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England, summer 2004. Copyright © 2003, Adele McDowell. Used by permission. eamcd@crosspaths.net
Erick McGraw (Grandma’s Christmas Tree) is an author, song writer, and accomplished pianist raised on the farm plains of Little Hocking, Ohio. He serves as senior pianist at Tri-City Baptist Church in Parkersburg, West Virginia and is writing a collection of children’s music. Copyright © 2003, Erick McGraw. Used by permission. gemcgraw@charter.net
www.hymnplayer.com
Viola Geary Odell (Music of My Family), a fourth-generation Califor-nian, lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Her short stories have won first prize in the Foster City International Writer’s Contest and The California Writer’s Club. Her two epic verse books, Riding the Golden Zephyr on an Eight Legged Horse and Western Skies and Apple Pie, are loosely based on her grandfather. Her upcoming novel is Buying Time, based on her wartime experience with the Voice of America. Copyright © 2003, Viola Odell. Used by permission. videll@aol.com
Kathryn Pfaltzgraff Eller (Between Africa and Dandridge) is a chap-lain, spiritual director and retreat leader. She is a missionary kid who was born and raised in Nigeria, West Africa. At eighteen years of age Kathryn made the difficult move from Nigeria to a small town in the United States. Now, at fifty, she is learning that home is only found within ourselves no matter where we may wander. Copyright © 2003, Kathryn Pfaltzgraff Eller. Used by permission. stories@simpleblessings.org www.simpleblessings.org
Virginia Anne Point (The White Chiffon Dress, Laura’s New Shoes) grew up during the Great Depression in Rochester, New Hampshire, then raised a family of three daughters in the Boston area. Now she lives in West Virginia. In writing, her small town themes come directly from her close knit family in the Depression era and from the residents of Rochester, New Hampshire. Copyright © 2003, Virginia Point. Used by permission. wpoint@citynet.net
Walter Radley (Free Movies at the Wild Rose) graduated from Waupaca High School in 1942 and joined the Navy. After serving his tour of duty in the South Pacific, he returned to Waupaca and later married in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After 51 years, his beloved wife Donna died of cancer at age 69. Now Walter is dating Doris Parise, the first girl he ever went out with, 62 years ago. Copyright © 2003, Walter Radley. Used by permission. waldor@smalltownusa.net
Grace Reidenauer (Patriotic Maverick) grew up in an in Gulfport, Mississippi, the youngest of five children, with 17 aunts and uncles. She visited aunts and uncles in Bayou la Batre, Alabama frequently in the summers. An extraordinary storyteller and comedian, she left her two children, five grandchildren and many cousins, nieces, and nephews with fond, funny memories of her. Copyright © 2003, Small Town USA.
Mildred Reinhardt (The Nurse is Coming) was born and raised Gary, South Dakota; population about 500. She has written and self-published five books of memoirs of her small town, during the 1920’s and 1930’s. A kindergarten teacher for many years, she is now a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. It has been a good life. Copyright © 2003, Mildred Reinhardt. Used by permission.
Gary Robson (Just Another Montana Morning) grew up in Colorado and then wandered off to spend 20 years in the electronics business in Silicon Valley. He has now returned to the Rockies. He lives on a small ranch in Montana with his wife and two children. He owns a bookstore in Red Lodge and works as a freelance writer. He has published several books and hundreds of articles (www.robson.org/gary). Copyright © 2003, Gary Robson. Used by permission.
Lon Rombough (Life on the Vine) His life has been filled with grapes, writing, consulting and his book, The Grape Grower, is available at www.bunchgrapes.com. He won the Garden Writers Association “Best Talent in Writing” award for 2003. Copyright © 2003, Lon Rombough. Used by permission.
Cathleen Rountree Ph.D.c (Small Town Movie Palaces), a seventh generation Californian, is a writer, film analyst, visual artist, and cultural mythologist. She is the best-selling author of eight books including her most recent one—The Writer’s Mentor: A Guide to Putting Passion on Paper. Her articles on writing appear in The Writer magazine and Writer’s Digest. For her books of interviews, Cathleen interviewed such well-known artistic and public figures as Doris Lessing, Isabel Allende, Governor Ann Richards, Betty Friedan, Senator Barbara Boxer, Ellen Burstyn, Mary Travers, and Gloria Steinem, among many others. She is often referred to as the Barbara Walters of Interview Book Writers. Copyright © 2003, Cathleen Rountree. Used by permission. Cathleen@cathleenrountree.com
Donna Schilling (Vacation Bible School) lived in Long Prairie for her first ten years, until 1933. Then she moved to Duluth, where she still resides. Donna reflects life in small town Minnesota in much of her writing. She is active with the Lake Superior Writers. Copyright © 2003, Donna Schilling. Used by permission. dm.speed@mailstation.com
Janet Elaine Smith (We All Like Meatballs) was born in the small town of St. Peter, Minnesota and moved with her family to Spring Lake, Minnesota when she reached the seventh grade. After graduating from high school in Deep River, Minnesota, she attended Bethany Bible College in Minneapolis. She met her husband in Venezuela, where she raised three children, and served as a missionary for nine years. She is the author of 12 published novels, including the best-seller Dunnottar. She writes for numerous magazines, including Heritage Quest Magazine, Red River Valley Memories, and Mysteries and Writers Journal, where she is a contributing editor. She has published over 1,000 articles (www.janetelainesmith.com). Copyright © 2003, Janet Elaine Smith. Used by permission.
Jonathan Smith (The Perfect Day) Copyright © 2004, Jonathan Smith. Used by permission.
Barbara Smythe (Lesson from a Tin Lunchbox, Shirley Temple Wan-na Be) began writing after retiring from city and school administration. Writing defines her, leading to challenges and new opportunities. But she still weeps at intolerance and spends way too much time on her hair. Copyright © 2003, Barbara Smythe. Used by permission. blsmythe@earthlink.net
Mary Travis (Backing Down Memory Lane) is a freelance writer and editor living in Lawrence, Kansas. Her next challenge is teaching her 14-year-old son how to drive. Copyright © 2003, Mary Travis. Used by permission. maryctravis@aol.com
Lavon Urbonas (The Milkman) is a Registered Dietitian, now retired and happy to have the time to write about something other than nutrition, although food still tends to find its way into and onto her writings. Copyright © 2003, Lavon Urbonas. Used by permission.
Urbonas@adelphia.net
Bill Vos (Moving to Independence) was born in Santa Monica, California. He worked in retail advertising, selling newspaper display space and eventually became advertising manager for the small newspaper group. Always around writing, but never a writer, until he retired 15 years ago. Now he writes travel articles and edits a monthly newsletter for the 300+ residents of his retirement community. Copyright © 2003, Bill Vos. Used by permission.
Shirley Dyer Wuchter (A Day at the Fair) spent her youth in the county seat of Wooster, Ohio. She taught school, raised her family, published in church journals, and wrote curriculum in several states, but she remembers her Ohio years fondly. Now in Duluth, Minnesota, she joined the Writers Group of Lake Superior three years ago as therapy after her husband died. Copyright © 2003, Shirley Dyer Wuchter. Used by permission. swuchter@juno.com
Lynne Zielinski (Goodbye Polliwogs), a freelance writer in Huntsville, Alabama, believes life is a gift from God and what we do with it is our gift to God in return. She tries to write accordingly. Copyright © 2003, Lynne Zielinski. Used by permission. Arisway@comcast.net
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