'Never bored and always looking forward'

 

“I have never been bored an hour in my life. I get up every morning wondering what new strange glamorous thing is going to happen and it happens at fairly regular intervals.” – William Allen White

 

Born in Emporia, KS on this date in 1868, White became America’s most renowned small town newspaper editor.   A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author, White became the spokesperson for Middle America and in the process made Emporia a “must stop” for politicos and celebrities seeking his counsel.

When I was researching my novel And The Wind Whispered, I was startled to find that White and his wife Sallie traveled to the Black Hills to spend time in Hot Springs, the setting for my book.   It was there that he first met Theodore Roosevelt – and thus their meeting and interactions became an integral part of my tale’s narrative.   

 

After my book’s publication, even though it is a historical novel and not a history book, per se’, I was invited to speak at Emporia State University and share my findings about the Whites’ 1894 trip to the Black Hills and how that became part of my story.   It was shortly after that trip that he purchased The Emporia Gazette, which then became his “home base” for the writing he did for the next 50 years. 

 

Shortly before his death in 1944, White wrote how grateful he was to have lived and worked in America.  He said he looked forward to every day regardless of what it might bring.  “I am not afraid of tomorrow,” he said, “for I have seen yesterday, and I love today!”