It is important to note that I have not tried to hide the identities of the characters that happened into my life, but to endear them to the reader so that they are an important part of to this story, and I in no way will try to make them more or less important than they really were. I have learned to accept and to love each one of the personalities and hope that I never have harmed them in the past or by this account of them in this written dialogue.

I have always lived on the edge of the Illinois prairie. Just after the Great Depression, I was born on a farm, and my heart and soul will always remain there. I attended a one-room country school and then Paris High School and eventually attended the University of Illinois. I did not finish college until almost fifty years later. I married my childhood sweetheart, and we have three children. I have enjoyed farming, social work, and teaching. My hobbies were playing softball, camping, and visiting my grandchildren. I am now semiretired and still interested in reading and writing.