Patricia Cox, AI, Denver, Colorado, has written “We Keep Our Potato Chips in 
the Refrigerator: A Memoir of an Alzheimer’s Victim.” The book about Patricia’s late husband Fred Thompson includes Fred’s insights and Patricia’s reflections on being Fred’s caregiver through his battle against this debilitating disease. Patricia relates candid stories about Fred with a delicate balance of humor and profound sadness.
Patricia was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. She moved to Denver for a teaching position after graduating from Texas Christian University, and later earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from the University of Denver. Patricia raised three daughters with her husband, Jim, before he was killed in a plane crash. She later met and married Fred. Patricia has 11 grandchildren and currently teaches memoir-writing classes.
Dianne Perry, A, Thorntown, Indiana, has written “Giving Her Wings.” The 
diary-style book focuses on mother/daughter interactions and chronicles a three-year period during which the author was diagnosed with breast cancer, increasing her urgency to prepare her daughter for the future. Dianne relates her perspective as a mother and music educator of sending her 15-year-old daughter to Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan to study music and pursue her dream of becoming an oboist.
Dianne earned a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University and a master’s in music education from Butler University. She played church organ and sang in her church choir for more than 25 years and has taught elementary music, college level music appreciation and private piano lessons. Dianne and her BIL Richard have two grown children.
Lenore Else, DA, Mankato, Minnesota, uses her past experiences and her deep 
faith to co-author a recently published book entitled “Fingerprints of Faith.” Lenore and her husband traveled extensively around the world, delivering Bibles to people searching for peace, harmony and a relationship with God. After her husband’s death, scripture and prayer gave her the same peace and harmony in her life that she so desperately wanted for the isolated people in other parts of the world. Out of her personal struggles and strong faith came this book, co-authored with her friend Jim Sheard, who also found comfort in the scriptures as he dealt with similar circumstances.
Evelyn Priddy, AZ, Huntington, Indiana, wrote “Long Ago in a Place Called
Huntington” and “Wonderful House for Matilda’s Family”—books for children describing life in the mid-19th century. Evelyn used primary research and information from the Historic Forks of the Wabash Museum to create historically accurate narratives about a real family that immigrated from Elmstein, Bavaria to Huntington. The town was one of the stops along the Erie-Wabash Canal. The first book describes life in 1847. The second book captures a vignette of the day that the family moved into their first log house.
Evelyn has been a professor of education at Huntington University for 20 years. She organized service learning projects for her students. During projects at the museum, she met descendents of the Nuck family about whom the stories are written. For two years, she gathered oral history and newspaper documentation to create the story lines. Her teacher education students helped to develop curriculum based on the books to be used in local classrooms. Each summer, Evelyn helps to organize an “Old-Fashion Independence Day Celebration’ on the museum grounds. Interpreters from the museum portray characters from the books and other personalities from the time period.
Connie Carson, AZ, Austin, Texas, has written two romance novels, “Colonial 
Romance,” about a family during the American Revolution and its sequel “The Bugle’s Call,” which takes place a generation later, before the War of 1812. The stories are fictional history about two families and a headstrong daughter and husband that organized a band of marauders that fought the English, giving the story a bit of mystery. The sequel takes the next generation away from the plantation in Virginia when the son enlists in the army after finishing college and is sent to a military post near New Orleans where he meets and marries a southern bell from a dysfunctional family.
Connie is a native Texan and after attending Texas State University she worked for the Texas Retirement System.
Peggy Richey, DO, Richardson, Texas, wrote “Live, Laugh, Love: How I Beat Cancer Three Times.” The book is a personal account of her battle with and triumph over cancer. Peggy was devastated by her third cancer diagnosis but survived. She has an optimistic message for others with cancer in their lives. She says, “By living every day of your life to the fullest, laughing in the face of everyday struggles and embracing everything with love you have the opportunity to put cancer in its place.”
Peggy was born in Covina, California. A graduate of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, she earned a bachelor of arts degree with a major in Spanish and a minor in French. Presently she resides in North Texas where she spent 25 years building a strong and solid reputation in the real estate industry, until her doctors required that she retire in March 2008.
Suzi Barnes, CO, Denison, Iowa, has published her first book, “Silk Stocking 
Row,” a look at life in small town Iowa from the 1890's to the 1940's. Included are recipes of those days, housewife's tips, health cures that will make you smile, children's games, nursery rhymes, nostalgic advertisements, folk lore plus elite parties of the "Gay 90's". Silk Stocking Row actually referred to a group of large and fanciful homes built in the late 19th century in Denison, Iowa. An abundance of photographs document the town's early heydays. There is also a strong link to P.E.O. throughout the book especially in regards to Chapter Co of Denison.
Suzi and her husband, Jim, live in her childhood home, The Hartwig House, which they operate as a Bed and Breakfast. They also own Roscoe's Jewelry store located in their home which features many of Suzi's creative handmade items.
Suzi wrote in her book, "For many years I have felt I should do something with all the literary information my ancestors so kindly left for me. I cherish these things and in this busy world, it is refreshing to sit back and read how life once was. I hope in some small way, you will receive a smile or two or even a refreshing feeling of an era so far removed from our life today.” Suzi also commented that she wrote the book because of a love of history and "being privileged to live in this home which in it's way is a living history.”
Tyler Burgess, DG, Eugene, Oregon, has written and illustrated three 
guidebooks: "Oregon Townscape Walks," "Eugene, Oregon Walks" and "Seattle Townscape Walks." These guidebooks are a love letter to the urban, staging a town as a dramatic event in the environment.
Whether taking a walk, or perusing from an easy chair, the hand drawn routes and sketches will draw readers into the magic that is Oregon and Seattle. The magic springs to life as Tyler explains what a townscape walk actually is. Readers learn why the town is here at history plaques and drop into local museums and are enticed with the mystery of the emerging view. What is around the corner, over the hill, down the path? With a little prompting, readers see the small details that create the full poetry of a townscape.
Tyler is a Sheridan, Wyoming, native and graduate of the University of Wyoming. Her mother and grandmother were P.E.O.s. Former University of Oregon adjunct faculty, she now writes guidebooks and organizes and leads walking tours in Europe and Morocco. 
