Biography

Significant figures, obituaries and tributes

Anderson, Maggie. 2012. “Irene Durrett McKinney (1939-2012).” Appalachian Journal 39, no. 3-4 (Spring/Summer): 228-233. McKinney served for eighteen years as West Virginia’s poet laureate, 1994-2012.

Ballard, Sandra L., ed. 2000. “Letters: Appalachian Journal Editor Gets Mail” [letters of tribute to retiring J. W. (Jerry Wayne) Williamson]. Appalachian Journal 28 (Fall): 22-67.

Biggers, Jeff. 1999. “The Fugitive of Southern Appalachian Literature: Reconsidering the Poetry of Don West” [1906-1992; overview of his life and writings; primary bibliography]. Journal of Appalachian Studies 5 (Fall): 159-180.

Biggers, Jeff. 2011. “Thousands Pay Tribute to Judy Bonds: She Has Been to the Mountaintop--and We Must Fight Harder to Save It” [d. Jan. 3; Charleston, W. Va.]. Huffington Post (blog), 4 January. 1,314 words. Activist, orator, and “godmother of the anti-mountaintop removal movement.” Video clips. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/thousands-pay-tribute-to_b_804001.html.

Bittman, Mark. 2012. “Wendell Berry, American Hero,” Opinionator (blog). New York Times, 24 April. 1,233 words. Profile of Berry from a visit one month before his April 23rd, NEH Jefferson Lecture at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/wendell-berry-american-hero/?src=me&ref=general.

Bogess, Carol. 2001. “James Still's funeral May 1, 2001: A Tribute.” Nantahala: A Review of Writing and Photography in Appalachia 1, no. 1 (November): nonfiction section. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/nreview/issue1-1/1-1_content/non-fiction/boggess.htm .

Boggess, Carol. 2003. “The Still Life in River of Earth: Exploring the Novel’s Biographical Context” [c. 1940; James Still, 1906-1940 period]. Appalachian Journal 30 (Summer): 324-344.

Bronner, Simon J. 2006. “Obituary: W.K. McNeil (1940-2005).” Journal of American Folklore 119, no. 473 (Summer): 356-361.

Brosi, George. 2012. “Mike Mullins: A Tribute” [1848-2012]. Appalachian Heritage 40, no. 2 (Spring): 8-9. Executive director of Hindman Settlement School (Knott Co., Ky.), leading the school since 1977. “...an irreplaceable part of the community of Eastern Kentucky natives who cared deeply about our region and acted valiantly and effectively on behalf of our land and people.”

Brown, Meredith Mason. 2008. Frontiersman: Daniel Boone and the Making of America. Southern Biography Series. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 375 pp.

Burton, Thomas. 2004. “Ray Hicks: A Man Who Became a Name” [1922-2003; N.C. storyteller]. Appalachian Journal 31 (Winter): 138-143.

DeRosier, Linda Scott. 1999. Creeker: A Woman’s Journey [b. 1941; acclaimed Eastern Ky. memoir; see also her succeeding Songs of Life and Grace (2003)]. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 272 pp.

Dick, David. 2005. Jesse Stuart: The Heritage: A Biography. Foreword by Wade Hall; afterword by Thomas D. Clark. North Middletown, Ky.: Plum Lick Pub. 292 pp.

Douglass, Thomas E. 1998. A Room Forever: The Life, Work, and Letters of Breece D’J Pancake [W. Va. author; d.1979 at age 26]. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. 280 pp.

Draper, Lyman C. 1998. The Life of Daniel Boone [Draper d. 1891]. Edited with an introduction by Ted Franklin Belue. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books. 596 pp.

Edwards, Grace Toney. 2012. “Breece D’J Pancake: A Life Too Short” [1952-1979]. Appalachian Heritage 40, no. 3 (Summer): 11-17.

Egerton, John. 2000. “His Own Drummer” [tribute to Jim Wayne Miller, d. 1996]. Appalachian Journal 28 (Fall): 122-127.

Farr, Sidney Saylor. 1999. “I Jumped at the Chance: Loyal Jones Interviews Sidney Saylor Farr, 22 September 1999” [Farr retires after fourteen years as editor of Appalachian Heritage]. Appalachian Heritage 27 (Fall): 9-25.

Farr, Sidney Saylor. 2007. My Appalachia: A Memoir [Stoney Fork, Bell Co., Ky.; b. 1932; former editor of Appalachian Heritage]. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 231 pp.

Fisher, Stephen L. 2007. “‘We’re All in This Together’ - and Other Lessons Learned Along the Way: Reflections on 35 Years at Emory & Henry College” [scholar, social activist, and former president of the Appalachian Studies Association]. Appalachian Journal 34, no. 3-4 (Spring/Summer): 280-300. Selected bibliography of works by Stephen L. Fisher [53 items], 297-300.

Fisher, Steve. 1999. “Anger and Hope, In Nearly Equal Measure: An Interview with Steve Fisher” [President, Appalachian Studies Association, 1998/99]. Appalachian Journal 26 (Winter): 170-187.

Ford, Thomas D., and J. Randolph Osborne. 2001. John B. Stephenson: Appalachian Humanist [former Berea College president and Appalachian Center director]. Ashland, Ky.: Jesse Stuart Foundation. 349 pp.

Fowler, Virginia C. 2012. “Tennessean by Birth” [Nikki Giovanni; biography]. Appalachian Heritage 40, no. 3 (Fall): 15-22.

Gifford, James M., and Erin R. Kazee. 2010. Jesse Stuart: An Extraordinary Life. Ashland, Ky.: Jesse Stuart Foundation. 479 pp. Biography, 1906-2001, family photos.

Giles, Janice Holt. [1975] 2002. Wellspring [Ky.; 1905-1979; autobiography, fiction, essays]. Reprint, with a foreword by Wade Hall. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 288 pp.

Goodell, Jeff. 2010. “Don Blankenship: The Dark Lord of Coal Country” [W. Va.; Massey Energy CEO retiring]. Rolling Stone, 9 December: 82-89, 128. 7,777 words. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/236336.

Gozemba, Patricia A. 2002. “No Ordinary Teacher: Helen Lewis of Highlander.” In Pockets of Hope: How Students and Teachers Change the World, by E. de los Reyes and P. Gozemba, 177-210. Series in Language and Ideology. Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey.

Hansel, Pauletta, and Richard Hague. 2012. “Migrating Home: Richard Hague, Pauletta Hansel, and an Urban Appalachian Aesthetic” [poets; Cincinnati]. Interview by Rhonda Pettit. Appalachian Journal 39, no. 3-4 (Spring/Summer): 330-347.

Hatfield, Coleman C., and Robert Y. Spence. 2003. The Tale of the Devil: The Biography of Devil Anse Hatfield[1839-1921; Hatfield-McCoy Feud]. From original manuscripts by grandson Coleman A. Hatfield. Chapmanville, W. Va.: Woodland Press. 320 pp.

Herrin, Roberta T. 2012. “C. Howard Dorgan (1932-2012)” [tribute]. Appalachian Journal 40, no. 1-2 (Fall 2012/Winter 2013): 24-27. Appalachian State University professor; 1997-98 president of the Appalachian Studies Association; 2000 recipient of ASA’s Cratis Williams/James Brown Service Award; and author of several books including The Old Regular Baptists of Central Appalachia (1989).

Hicks, Ronda Lee. 2009. Beech Mountain Man: The Memoirs of Ronda Lee Hicks. Interviewed by Thomas Burton, with a foreword by John Shelton Reed. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. 133 pp. Cousin to N.C. storyteller Ray Hicks, Ronda tells autobiographical stories of his fighting, drinking, and womanizing at the same time reflecting details of traditional mountain life.

Higgs, Jack. 1997. “Jim Wayne Miller, 1936-1996” [tribute]. Appalachian Journal 24 (Winter): 124-125.

Homer H. Hickam, Jr. [W. Va. aerospace engineer; author of Rocket Boys (1998)]. 2000. In Current Biography Yearbook 2000. New York: H. W. Wilson.

Howard, Victor B. 1996. The Evangelical War Against Slavery and Caste: The Life and Times of John G. Fee. Selinsgrove, Pa.: Susquehanna University Press. 253 pp.

Hunter Library, Western Carolina University. 2005. “Horace Kephart: Revealing an Enigma” (digital collection). “Throughout 2004, Hunter Library celebrated the 100-year anniversary of Horace Kephart’s arrival in western North Carolina. As an extension of these events, Special Collections and the Mountain Heritage Center joined together in creating an online exhibit of Kephart’s life and works.” It includes Kephart’s photographs, a bibliography of his writings and timeline of his life, plus summary and manuscript information from his books including the classic, Our Southern Highlanders (1913), and The Book of Camping and Woodcraft (1906). http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/Kephart/.

Inscoe, John C. 2006. “Sense of Place, Sense of Being: The Intersection of Geography and Spirit in Recent Appalachian Autobiography.” Journal of Appalachian Studies 12, no. 2 (Fall): 156-168. Review essay of six books: Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods (2005), by Thomas Rain Crowe; Moving Out, Finding Home: Essays on Identity, Place, Community and Class (2005), by Bob Fox; Beauty Before Comfort: A Memoir(2003), by Allison Glock; Loving Mountains, Loving Men (2005), by Jeff Mann; Finding a Clear Path (2005), by Jim Minick; and The Glass Castle (2005), by Jeannette Walls.

Jones, G. C. (Green C.). [1985] 2004. Growing Up Hard in Harlan County [Ky., b. 1913; classic memoir]. Foreword by Cratis Williams. Reprint. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 177 pp.

Jones, Libby Falk. 2006. “‘I stay a little bit angry’: Portrait of Helen Lewis, Activist Teacher.” Appalachian Heritage 34, no. 3 (Summer): 52-60.

Jones, Loyal. 2000. “Interview with Loyal Jones.” By Lori Briscoe, Erica S. Collins, Amanda Deal, Ron Hancock, and Kristyn McGraw. Appalachian Journal 27 (Summer): 378-403.

Langfitt, Frank. 2012. “Educator Revives Hindman School” [originally published Feb. 4, 1990]. Kentucky.com, February 20. 1990 Profile of Mike Mullins, Executive Director of Hindman Settlement School since 1977, who died Feb. 20, 2012. http://www.kentucky.com/2012/02/20/2076347/published-feb-4-1990-educator.htm.

Levy, Buddy. 2005. American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett. New York: Berkley Books. 339 pp.

Lewis, Helen Matthews. 2011. “Mountain Feminist: Helen Matthews Lewis, Appalachian Studies, and the Long Women’s Movement” [b. 1924, Jackson Co., Ga.]. Interview by Jessica Wilkerson, compiled and introduced by J. Wilkerson and David P. Cline. Southern Cultures 17, no. 3 (Fall): 48-65.

Lewis, Helen Matthews. 2012. Helen Matthews Lewis: Living Social Justice in Appalachia. Edited by Patricia D. Beaver and Judith Jennings. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 263 pp. Contents: Introduction / Stephen L. Fisher -- The Making of an Unruly Woman, 1924-1955 / Judith Jennings -- Breaking New Ground, 1955-1977 / Patricia Beaver -- From Local to Global, 1975-1985 / John Gaventa -- Participatory Research, 1983-1999 / Juliet Merrifield -- Telling Our Stories, 1999-2010 / Bill Leonard -- The Final Word -- Chronology.

Lewis, Helen. 2000. “Unruly Woman: An Interview with Helen Lewis” [b. 1924]. Interview by Lori Briscoe, Erica S. Collins, Amanda Deal, Ron Hancock, and Kristyn McGraw. Appalachian Journal 27 (Winter): 164-189.

Lewis, Ronald L. 2012. “‘Do What Lights Your Fire’: An Interview with Ron Lewis” [b. 1934; WVU professor emeritus of history]. By Ashley Brewer, Donna Corriher, Jesse Edgerton, Hannah Furgiuele, Coty Hogue, Rebecca Jones, Blaze Edward Pappas, Shannon Perry, with Patricia D. Beaver. Appalachian Journal 39, no. 1-2 (Fall 2011/Winter 2012): 36-55.

Lofaro, Michael A. 2004. “The Many Lives of Daniel Boone” [literature about Boone]. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 102, no. 4: 488-511.

Lorence, James J. 2007. A Hard Journey: The Life of Don West [1906-1992; radical, labor organizer, leftist activist, writer, poet, educator, ordained minister, “Appalachian Hero”]. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 308 pp. Weatherford Award winner for nonfiction.

McGowan, Thomas, and Daniel W. Patterson. 2005. “Twenty Dollar Non-Blues: Cece Conway: Folklorist, Organizer of Festivals, and Lovable Colleague” [2005 Brown-Hudson Folklore Award]. North Carolina Folklore Journal 52, no. 2 (Fall-Winter): 55-59.

McGowan, Thomas. 2002. “Representing Cratis Williams: A Review Essay” [reviews the memoir The Cratis Williams Chronicles: I Come to Boone (1999) and the documentary film Cratis Williams: Living the Divided Life(1999)]. North Carolina Folklore Journal 49 (Spring/Summer): 1-33.

Mitchell, Ted. 1997. Thomas Wolfe: A Writer’s Life [biography; 1900-1938]. Asheville, N.C.: Thomas Wolfe Memorial Historic Site. 114 pp.

Morgan, Robert. 2007. “Simon Kenton” [biographical background on Kenton, 1755-1836, stemming from research on Boone: A Biography (2007)]. Appalachian Heritage 35, no. 3 (Summer): 93-97.

Morgan, Robert. 2007. Boone: A Biography [Daniel Boone, 1734-1820]. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. 538 pp.

Mullins, Mike. 2010. “My Friend, Mr. Still” [James Still (1906-2001), Featured Author]. Appalachian Heritage 38, no. 4 (Fall): 12-18. Based on a speech at the Mountain Literary Festival at Lincoln Memorial University, June 24, 2006.

Olsen, Lyle [Foreword], et al. 1994. One for the Higger: Jack Higgs, a Man for All Seasons [poetry, short stories, memoirs, and essays honoring Robert J. (Jack) Higgs]. Johnson City, Tenn.: East Tennessee State University Press. 204 pp. Contents: One for the Higger: Jack Higgs, a man for all seasons / Thomas Burton -- Jack Higgs and the mighty Knicks of Knoxville: a memoir / Neil D. Isaacs -- The unshined shoe / Robert J. Higgs -- The caring gardener of leisure / Lyle Olsen -- Mountain gloom and mountain glory in the old and new worlds / Jean Haskell Speer -- Energy (poem) / Don Johnson -- Smokemont: memories of a fish hatchery childhood / John Morefield -- The liberal arts and higher education today / Bert C. Bach -- The uncertainty of history / Richard C. Crepeau -- Suzanne Lenglen: symbol for an age / Susan J. Bandy -- “And hope for all the language is”: Whitman, Dickinson, and the reader / Ron Giles -- “Who the Hell are you, kid?”: language, nostalgia and identity in the baseball poem / Don Johnson -- The lonely marathon / Kevin Lewis -- The comparison of black and Appalachian storytelling / Loyal Jones -- His lake (poem) / Betty J. Williams -- Red-eye and Jack Higgs / Mick Davenport -- Thoreau could have predicted it / Anne S. Darden -- Diving deep: notes on “Grabbling” -- Grabbling (poem) / Don Johnson -- Wet-one-up: cheating honestly / Lyle Olsen.

Perry, Thomas David. 2012. Beyond Mayberry: A Memoir of Andy Griffith and Mount Airy, North Carolina [1926-2012]. Ararat, Va.: Laurel Hill Publishing. 214 pp. Mount Airy was Griffith’s birthplace and the setting for The Andy Griffith Show series which aired originally 1960-1968 (CBS) and was the number one show on television.

Peters, Jason, ed. 2007. Wendell Berry: Life and Work [27 essays]. Culture of the Land: A Series in the New Agrarianism. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 349 pp. Contents: Introduction / Jason Peters -- Ain’t they the berries! / Ed McClanahan -- Wendell Berry on war and peace; or, Port William versus the empire / Bill Kauffman -- Words addressed to our condition exactly / Scott Russell Sanders -- The best noise in the world / Donald Hall -- Wendell Berry’s political vision / Kimberly K. Smith -- How Wendell Berry single-handedly preserved three hundred years of agrarian wisdom / David Kline -- Memory and hope in the world of Port William / John Leax -- Politics, nature, and value in Wendell Berry’s “art of the commonplace” / Eric Trethewey -- Berry Britannica / John Lane -- Wendell Berry and the twentieth-century agrarian “series” / Allan Carlson -- A citizen of the real world / Bill McKibben -- Sexuality and the sacramental imagination: it all turns on affection / P. Travis Kroeker -- A practical education: Wendell Berry the professor / Morris A. Grubbs -- An economy of gratitude / Norman Wirzba -- Letters from a humble radical / Wes Jackson -- Wendell Berry and the limits of populism / Erich T. Freyfogle -- Hemingway’s Nick and Wendell Berry’s art / David Crowe -- At his desk as on his land / Hayden Carruth -- Wendell Berry and the traditionalist critique of meritocracy / Jeremy Beer -- Looking the technological gift horse in the mouth / Sven Birkerts -- Wendell Berry: agrarian artist / Gene Logsdon -- Education, heresy, and the “deadly disease of the world” / Jason Peters -- Wendell’s window and the wind’s eye / James Baker Hall -- The art of buying nothing / Barbara Kingsolver -- Fidelity / Katherine Dalton -- Wendell Berry and the alternative tradition in American political thought / Patrick J. Deneen -- A long shelf / Jack Shoemaker -- Afterword / George Core -- Chronology -- Selected Bibliography.

Remembering Jim Wayne Miller [1936-1996]. 1997. Special issue, Appalachian Heritage 25 (Fall): 3-54.

Remembering Senator Jennings Randolph [W. Va.; helped found ARC; d. 1998]. 1998. “Eulogy to Senator Jennings Randolph,” by Senator Robert C. Byrd, and “Tribute to a Pioneer,” by James E. Casto. Appalachia: Journal of the Appalachian Regional Commission 31 (May-August): 18-21.

Rourke, Constance. [1934] 1998. Davy Crockett [biography]. Reprint, with an introduction by Michael A. Lofaro. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 276 pp. Originally published: New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.

Schudel, Matt. 2011. “Forceful Voice of Working Class” [“Hazel Dickens, Bluegrass Pioneer Who Sang of Miners and Downtrodden, Dies at 75”]. Washington Post, 23 April, METRO, 6(B). 989 words. Born 1935, Mercer County, W. Va.

Settle, Mary Lee. 1998. Addie: A Memoir [autobiography via memoir of grandmother; W. Va.]. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. 237 pp.

Smith, Betty N. 1998. Jane Hicks Gentry: A Singer Among Singers [d. 1925; N.C. storyteller and informant to ballad collector Cecil Sharp]. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky. 226 pp.

Still, James. 2001. “A Man Singing to Himself: An Autobiographical Essay” [1906-2001]. In From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems, ed. Ted Olson, 5-24. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.

Taylor, Richard. 2004. “Daniel Boone as American Icon: A Literary View” [surveys many writings and attributions]. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 102, no. 4: 512-533.

Waggoner, Eric G. 2005. “Radical Rhetoric, American Iconography, and The Autobiography of Mother Jones” [1925]. Appalachian Journal 32, no. 2 (Winter): 192-210.

Wallis, Michael. 2011. David Crockett: The Lion of the West [biography]. New York: W.W. Norton. 380 pp.

West Virginia Biographical Dictionary [brief sketches of 233 men and 4 women]. 1999. St. Clair Shores, Mich.: Somerset Publishers. 294 pp.

Whisnant, David. 2000. “On the Other Hand...: An Interview with David Whisnant” [b. 1938; N.C.]. Interview by Lori Briscoe, Erica S. Collins, Amanda Deal, Ron Hancock, and Kristyn McGraw. Appalachian Journal 27 (Spring): 272-296.

Williams, Ann. 1999. “My Father, Don West.” Traditions: A Journal of West Virginia Folk Culture and Educational Awareness 5: 40-42.

Williams, Cratis D. 1999. Cratis Williams Chronicles: I Come to Boone. Edited by David Cratis Williams and Patricia D. Beaver. Boone, N.C.: Appalachian Consortium Press. 144 pp.

Williams, Cratis D. 2003. Tales from Sacred Wind: Coming of Age in Appalachia: The Cratis Williams Chronicles [Part 1 of 3; b. 1911, Caines Creek, Lawrence Co., Ky.]. Edited by David Cratis Williams and Patricia D. Beaver. Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies, no. 8. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. 444 pp.

Williamson, J. W. 2004. “Remembering Henry D. Shapiro (1938-2004)” [author of Appalachia On Our Mind(1978)]. Appalachian Journal 31 (Winter): 136-137.

Williamson, Jerry W. 2000. “A Cold Day in Hell: An Interview with Jerry Williamson.” By Patricia Beaver and Helen Lewis. Appalachian Journal 29 (Fall): 78-115.

Williamson, Jerry Wayne. 2012. “Jo Carson (1946-2011).” Appalachian Journal 39, no. 3-4 (Spring/Summer): 224-227. Well known for her character sketches she called “People Pieces,” Carson is the author of nine books, including Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody Yet (1989), and more than 30 plays.

Wolfe, Margaret Ripley. 2002. “Lifting Up His Eyes unto the Hills: Harry M. Caudill and His Appalachia.” Filson History Quarterly 76 (Winter): 1-32.