Acknowledgements
Heartfelt thanks to family members down through the generations who have supported (knowingly and unknowingly) the telling of this story: to my great grandmother, Nellie Belle Scott, for writing and preserving the short stories that made their way into my book; to my grandmother, Opal Nellie Wolff, and my mother, Shirley Jane Matheson, for passing down to me Nellie’s writing and Leone’s scrapbook; to my cousins, Dorothy Meyer and Nancy Bishop, who spent an afternoon listening to me tell my story and gave me their blessing to write this book; to my sister, Cheryl von Drehle, my daughter, April Avey, and my good friend, Arnette Cratty, for their feedback and encouragement; and to Joel Avey for helping me maintain balance between work and rest.
No published book is the author’s product alone. Thanks to development editor Marcy Weydemuller, copy editor Katie Vorreiter , and publisher Wally Turnbull, for their diligence, gifts, and talents. Also to author Jane Kirkpatrick for suggesting that “the quiet one” in my story might have a larger role to play.
Finally, to my church family at Groveland Evangelical Free Church for their prayers, and my communities in California and Arizona for their support.