“When I was growing up, my mother went to the laundromat every Monday night. Next door was the town library. I devoured hundreds of books on every imaginable subject, so it was inevitable that I would pursue publishing. However, more than books guided this choice.

One of my grandfathers was a minister, and the other, an electrician and political activist. Religion and politics were always lively topics in my formative years. My political gramps would review decades of American history, and my other one, centuries of religious records.

Both ancestral influences pushed me toward a career of more than three decades in book publishing, in which my experience ranged from managing a company that produced over 150 titles a year to owning a small book production company that developed projects for numerous firms.

After both my grandfathers passed way, I wished I had asked more questions about their lives. My quest to find answers about their past, as well as those of grandmothers, aunts, and uncles, has led me on a seemingly never-ending journey through the mountains of southeast Kentucky and southwest Virginia.

Along the way I have endured chiggers, snakes, and bears in hillside cemeteries, discovered new relatives in tiny, out-of-the-way places, and heard unforgettable stories about my ancestors. I have spent years researching data in state and local archives and pondering the genealogy of my family.

Combining my publishing experience with my genealogical and historical pursuits was the next step in recording my own research but also in helping others begin their own exploration of the past.”