An Author’s Journey into the Past – Discovering My Roots in a Pioneer Arizona School Teacher

As my curiosity was aroused by her diaries and letters and I began researching the three years (1913-1916) that my Grandmother taught school in Cornville and Williams, Arizona, I was elated as mysteries were solved and the full picture began to emerge.  I knew that eventually I would have to put the draft I was developing into book form, for family, for friends who had read parts of it and urged me to continue, and for others who I knew would enjoy the story.  It has been an on-off project for the past twenty-three years.  Interrupted by four children (home schooled), moves – California to South Carolina to an island in the Caribbean and back to California – being a wife, public speaking, women’s seminars, teaching in prison, and many other time-consuming activities which have been part of my chosen life’s work.  Here and there I would sequester myself for time devoted to the manuscript.  The impetus provided by a friend, herself an author and publisher, has encouraged me to complete the finishing touches and bring the book to publication in time for the Centennial of Arizona Statehood. “Elsie” will be available in late September both as an e-book and paperback on Amazon. I believe Elsie would have been my biggest fan.