Letters is a family history built around letters, postcards, memoir fragments, and voices that span more than a century. Why was this an important book for you to write?

My father’s World War II letter was the reason I wrote my book, a ten-year journey playing with literary ideas before determining how best to share his letter. I attempted one format, bogged down, and turned to writing my poetry book, Our Lives in Verse, Everyday Poetry, published by WestBow Press in 2022. Once that was completed, I turned again to my father’s letter, and the creative twelve-month structure for its presentation came together. Dad’s revelatory experiences driving a tank across Europe and the liberation of Dachau, as he describes the wonder and horror of it all, belong to the world.

How did you decide which documents to include and which private materials to leave out?

I cherish both the Catherine Marshall letter and the postcard from Elisabeth Elliot, spiritually important because of their expressions of faith and inspirational encouragement. The poignant Susan B. Anthony letter was a thrill to discover ten years ago when seeking more information about Annie Pillsbury Young. It is a valuable piece of American, suffragette history, and my connection to her was astonishing.

The private materials, of which there is much more, were chosen because of their humanity and relatability, each with an “Aha” sentence or two that especially resonates. Finding the letter Arie wrote to his parents after Sandy died was a major discovery during the writing process, and my granddaughter’s amazing poem was written toward the end. A note about her poem: Divya Greenleaf’s poem “The Final Duet For Ill-Fated Lovers” (which she tweaked some from the original) won First Prize in the Rhyming Poetry category for the Broward County Literary Fair, 2026! Mindful of not over-burdening the reader with my story, I did remove 6,000 words, including several letters, in the final edit.

Grief appears throughout the book, but so does gratitude. Did you see the project as an act of mourning, thanksgiving, or both?

Writing Letters: Our American Story was an act of thanksgiving and celebration. It was a remarkable journey of discovery and insight that also brought tears of gratitude and sorrow from contemplating the loss of loved ones and the inevitable challenges from life. Writing this book was an amazing experience that still brings tears. It is an honor to have written Letters and is also very humbling, with my deep genealogical connections to American history only learned in the past five years. As exciting as these discoveries have been, however, I’m most humbled and awed by the everyday strength, faith, and courage demonstrated by my more recent ancestry and family. They inspire me the most.

If this book could leave readers with one emotional truth about memory, family, and faith, what would you want that truth to be? 

It is hard to choose “one emotional truth.” In the end, I would say cherish your heritage, because your very life holds the wonderment of the past, the renowned or the ordinary, the good or the bad. Our genetics are not an accident. Letters is about the blessing of life itself. We wouldn’t be here without our ancestors. Additionally, my book is a tremendous demonstration of our connectedness as Americans. We are deeply connected through our common history, through our racial makeup, through faith and the hopes, dreams and accomplishments we share. Our family trees reveal a remarkable union of experience and life lived. All to God’s Glory!

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