Frances Patton Statham

Frances Patton Statham (pronounced Stay/tum) has won numerous regional, national, and international awards in music, art, and literature (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and journalism). Chosen Georgia Author of the Year in Fiction on three occasions, Statham graduated magna cum laude from Winthrop University with a double major in voice performance and music education, received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia, and an honorary doctorate from World University. A lyric-coloratura soprano, she has given voice recitals and lectures in such cities as Vancouver, Madrid, Budapest, and Singapore, and is listed in a number of reference books, including International Who’s Who of Authors and Writers, Personalities of the South, and International Who’s Who of Women. She is currently at work on her 17th novel.

William Clyde Stegall

William Clyde Stegall was a sharecropper’s son, who later became CEO of his own company in Birmingham, Alabama. He worked his way through school—first at a farm school in north Georgia, and then at Clemson University on the GI Bill, after World War II. A civic and spiritual leader in his community, Stegall never forgot his roots as a boy growing up in Bear Swamp. He died of cancer before the publication of his book.