I am a writer, poet, and artist. I taught for 30 years in public schools. I taught Special Education, Reading Improvement, and English until I retired. I have published and illustrated a children's alphabet book called "Samuel's Alphabet Zoo". I have also published a true historical narrative based on letters found in my husband's grandparents' home after they died. It is entitled, "Courage of the Heart: An American Odyssey 1915 to 1923". The book is an intimate account of two families and four brothers from Western Illinois, each facing the Great War in uniquely different ways. It is the extraordinary love story of Haidee Wilson and Maurice Chatterton, written in their own words, spanning the years from 1915 until 1923. This is an odyssey of courage and hardship, war, death, illness, and finally survival and a love that endured.