Meet our writers


Barbra BlackburnBARBARA BLACKBURN– may live in the East, but she believes that the West is a state of mind. Since 1987, she has been writing “Frontier Fare,” a culinary column, with commentary and recipes. Barb loves to read about foot, cook food, eat food and write about food. Besides a master’s degree in English, which she uses as an English instructor at Erie Community College in Williamsville, New York, she is a certified culinary professional. The history and culture of food are fascinating to her. She has a useful herb garden and a reputation for hosting elegant Victorian teas. Seeing her stories in print and sharing with others continues to fascinate Barb, who loves to hear from readers.

Her Old West Cookbook and Victorian Tea Thyme are filled with fun, facts and food ideas and concepts, along with recipes. Besides these books, Barb has authored many articles for Western New York Family magazine. Barb has done may lecturers on various aspects of the culinary world, which she calls “Cullinarrations.”

As the “Julia Child of the West,” a sobriquet from Jim Dullenty, former editor of True West, Barbara preserves the flavors of the past, adding a healthy, user-friendly touch. She believes that the palate, like the heart, does not change and we can go home again with authentic recipes. Some of the old foods face extinction and must be preserved. Yet one must remember that a recipe is not carved in stone. More important is the combination of a culinary concept and some creativity.

  
Gail T. BurtonGAIL T. BURTON– author of the popular feature, " Randy Jones and Booger Red," was born at Temple, Okla., in January 1929. He served in the U. S. Army and was stationed for 15 months in Korea around 1947. Burton wrote his first poem as a class assignment in the School of Fire Protection at Oklahoma A&M College. He worked for a major insurance company as a Senior Loss Control Specialist for 42 years, retiring to Arkansas in 1993. He is married to Barbara, his first and only love, and they reared five children.

Having grown up rural, where horses were still in competition with tractors, and having a life long interest in the Old West, Burton's poetry has taken a definite western direction. Often an outlet for his more unique (deranged) thinking, his poetry will as often convey a tender thought, a nostalgic reminder of the Old West or even a touch of wisdom.

He is the author of Cowpies & Candle Lights, a collection of poems about cowboys, and two volumes of The Adventures of Randy Jones & Booger Red. Another book, Charity, is an anthology including poems of faith, words of love and letters of Christmas. His annual Christmas poem has become a welcome tradition to friends in 28 states. The "Cowboy's Christmas Prayer" is published annually in the Epitaph's December issue.

  
Nicholas R. CataldoNICHOLAS R. CATALDO – is a Somerville, New Jersey, native who has made San Bernardino, California, his home since 1966. A graduate of California State University, San Bernardino, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and social science and a master’s degree in education, Cataldo has been a special education teacher in the San Bernardino Unified School District since 1978.

Nick developed an interest in the Old West as a young boy as he watched the seemingly endless array of television westerns with his grandfathers during the late 1950s and 1960s. When he was 12, his family moved to San Bernardino, where his passion for Old West history really took off – especially when he found out that his new home played a role in this romantic western frontier.

Nick enjoyed hearing about Wyatt Earp and his time in Dodge City, Kansas and Tombstone, Arizona, but was truly fascinated that the entire Earp family lived most of their lives in the San Bernardino area. Nick has been a contributor to the Epitaph since 1996. His is the author of Images of America: San Bernardino; co-author of Pioneers of San Bernardino, 1851 – 1857;  and co-author of The Earps of San Bernardino County. His most recent work, The Earp Clan: The Southern California Years, was released in October 2006. He also writes a biweekly column on local history for the San Bernardino Sun newspaper.

  
Charles Frederick EckhardtCHARLES FREDERICK ECKHARDT – uses his initials because his name is too long to get on one line, and he goes by Charley with an “ey” because he’s not a perfume. He was born a long time ago in Austin, Texas and grew up in an atmosphere where Texas and Southern history were part of his life almost from the day he was born. His paternal grandmother, a lifelong member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (she was a real “daughter” in the former case since her father was a Confederate soldier) who lived with his family until Charley was 12, was born when Sam Bass, Billy the Kid, Jesse James and George A. Custer were all still alive and kicking.

Eckhardt grew up in Austin and on about 400 acres of hardpan, cedar brake and honeycomb limestone in western Williamson County, Texas. He attended the University of Texas when there was only one and managed to stay on good terms with both H. Bailey Carrol and Walter P. Webb, which was considered something of an achievement since the two historians hated each other. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history. Since jobs in history were hard to come by unless one was politically correct – which Eckhardt refused to be – he spent many years as a peace officer and soldier. Finally tiring of being a moving target, Eckhardt pursued a trade that allowed him both the time and the intellectual energy to pursue his first love, writing about Texas and the American West. He now writes full time.

His books include The Los San Saba Mines, Unsolved Texas Mysteries, Texas Tales Your Teacher Never Told You, Tales of Badmen, Bad Women, and Bad Places – Four Centuries of Texas Outlawry, Texas Smoke – Muzzle-Loaders on the Frontier and Tales Told Across Campfires. In addition to the Epitaph, Eckhardt has been published in a short-lived revival of Harper’s Weekly and publications in Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia.

Eckhardt lives in an historic home in Seguin, Texas with Vicki, his wife of more years that she likes to admit, and numerous critters.

  
Jane EppingaJANE EPPINGA – is a graduate of the University of Arizona, Tucson. In 1995, she won the C. Leland Sonnichsen award for the best paper in the Journal of Arizona History. Her book Henry Ossian Flipper: West Point's First Black Graduate won a Spur finalist award from the Western Writers of America. Other articles received awards from the Arizona Press Women and the National Federation of Press Women between 1996 and 2008. In July 2008, she presented a paper at the International Women’s Congress in Madrid. Her writing credits include more than 200 articles for both popular and professional publications covering several genres and topics: children's fiction, travel, personal profiles, biology, construction, food and public relation pieces. Her books on Tucson, Nogales, Apache Junction and Tombstone are part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series. She has also written Arizona Sheriffs: Badges and Bad Men, published by Rio Nuevo Press in Tucson. She is a member of Western Writers of America, Southern Arizona Authors, Arizona Press Women, National Federation of Press Women and the Society of Woman Geographers.

  
No ImageDREW GOMBER – is a native easterner who came to the West following the history that he loves 13 years ago. He has resided in historic Lincoln, New Mexico, for the past nine years and writes a weekly column for the Ruidoso News. As a veteran, he is intimately familiar with most firearms and is constantly seeking new stories about the West. For 10 years, Drew’s roommate was a 160-pound gray wolf that stood 33 inches tall at the shoulder. Although an avid horseman, Drew was forced to discontinue his exploration of the mountains around Lincoln when his horse, Pete, died in winter 2006. He still has two goats and three dogs that live in the house with him (the dogs, not the goats!) Drew offer regular tours of Lincoln and Lincoln County and has been a frequent contributor to the Epitaph for about 10 years. He appeared regularly on the acclaimed “Wild West Tech” series on the History Channel and still does occasional shows for the History Channel, Biography and Discovery. He visits Tombstone several times each year to visit with his many friends. He can be reached drew@pvtnetworks.net.

  
Linda JonesLINDA JONES – Linda’s passion is Colorado – writing of its history, exploring its trails and introducing visitors to it.  She has been a professional tour guide since 1976, guiding across America as well as in Colorado, and is in Who’s Who in America for tour guiding. Since  1993, she’s been a professional writer, publishing two books and 976 articles and stories in a variety of publications, including, most recently, The Tombstone Epitaph, and True West and Colorado Gambler. Her two guide books are Mile High Denver, A Guide to the Queen City and Up the Gulch: Historic Walking Tours of Black Hawk, Central City and Nevadaville. Linda lives at the 9,300-foot level, surrounded on three sides by Arapahoe National Forest, and loves exploring a trail anywhere in the Rockies on foot, on showshoes or in a 4-wheeler.

  
Gary LedouxGARY LEDOUX – says, “the Old West isn’t just a time or place. To me it’s a state of mind; a place I got each time I sit down to write. And nothing more epitomizes the Old West like Tombstone and the stories surrounding the ‘Town too tough to die.’”

A New Hampshire native and now a resident of Southern California, Gary has been an Epitaph contributor since 1998. His column “YesterWest” has been a monthly feature since January 2006. Gary is a member of the Western Writers of America, the National Association of Outlaw and Lawman History and the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association. He has been a featured writer at the Warren Earp Days Book Festival held in Willcox, Arizona, in 2003; a featured writer at the Tombstone Book and Film Festival in 2004 and a similar event in Tucson in 2005. He was a featured speaker at two venues during the 125th anniversary of the Gunfight at the O. K. Corral, held in Tombstone in 2006.

Now in the works is a two-volume biography of John P. Clum, former Tombstone mayor and founder of The Tombstone Epitaph. Volume 1 is due out in late 2007. Additional projects include a fictional book built around Tombstone.

His present book, Tombstone: A Chronicle in Perspective, is a time-line of the Old West with an emphasis on the history and lore of Tombstone. Visit www.yesterwest.com for more information.

  
Robert L. MunkresROBERT L. MUNKRES – was reared in Broadwater in the Nebraska Panhandle where his father was a rancher and banker and where his mother was a school teacher prior to marriage. A twin brother is a retired professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A graduate of Broadwater High School, Munkres went on to Nebraska Wesleyan University, and then to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he received his master’s degree and a doctorate. He was a seasonal ranger-historian at Fort Laramie National Historic Site in the late 1950s. He taught political science at the University of Wisconsin Extension Division from 1956 to 1960 and was a political science and history professor at Muskingum College in Ohio from 1960 to 1999. He continued to teach one course a year, on American Indians, until 2004. Since 2004, Munkres and his wife have lived in Estes Park, Colorado. He has given lectures at the Estes Park Museum, the Wyoming State Museum, Museum of the Fur Trade, Rocky Mountain National Park and Colorado State University.

Munkres has published two books, including Salterus and Sagebrush, three chapters in other works and more than 250 articles and reviews in journals and magazines and more than 50 newspaper features. His first Epitaph article appeared in March 1978. Munkres areas of interest are the westward migration, particularly on the Oregon-California Trail and Indian- White relations in the Trans-Mississippi West.

  
Bob RohanBOB ROHAN – cartoonist and creator of The Buffalo Gals comic strip , has been drawing cartoons all of his life. He created Buffalo Gals in 1995 after a stint of playing the fiddle with a cowgirl group out of Hays County, Texas. Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Bob moved to Texas is 1975 and has called Texas his home ever since.  Bob was nominated as Best Cowboy Cartoonist by The Academy of Western Artists out of Gene Autry, Oklahoma.

"I have done other comic strips" Bob recalled, "but nothing that has lasted as long as The Buffalo Gals.  I am so proud of having my feature displayed in a fine western paper like The Tombstone Epitaph.  My comic strip fits the theme of the paper and it heartens me that I might have given someone a chuckle here in the states and around the world."
  
Ben TraywickBEN T. TRAYWICK  – was born in Watertown, Tennessee, on Aug. 3, 1927. As a graduate of Tennessee Technological University with majors in chemistry and math, Traywick’ s working years have dealt with different types of explosives. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory he worked in nuclear research and development; at Aerojet General in Sacramento, in missile technology; and at Apache Power Company in Arizona, mining explosives.

In the mid 1960s, Traywick began writing for the Epitaph. Since that time, he has had more than 220 stories in this publication. His interests lie in writing about unusual characters, places and events. He has a special interest in Arizona history and western Indians. Since 1954, Traywick has written 33 books, more than 900 newspaper and magazine articles and has been involved in the making of 235 films.

At present, Traywick is Tombstone town historian, a post he has held for 20 years. He has lived in Tombstone for 39 years. His bookstore, Red Marie’s, is located on Tombstone’s Fifth Street, directly across the street from The Tombstone Epitaph museum, between Allen and Fremont streets.

Traywick, with nice understatement, describes himself as “semi-retired.”

  
Ben WilliamsBEN F. WILLIAMS, JR.  – is a well-known presence in southeastern Arizona. He was Tombstone City Attorney in the early 1960s; Douglas (Arizona) City Attorney in the late 1970s; and Mayor of Douglas between 1980 and 1988. He retired from the practice of law after 50 years and has taken up writing about the Old West. He is a third-generation Arizonan whose father and grandfather owned ranches in Arizona, Sonora and Chihuahua – a lineage that has given him plenty to write about.

Williams’ first article in the Epitaph, “Father of Invention,” was published in February 2006. Since then, 12 stories, many characterized as “Western Reflections,” have appeared in the West’s most famous newspaper. Several of Williams’ stories also have been published in Range Magazine and Precision Shooting Magazine.

Factual reporting is Williams’ goal in his stories. They are based on his own knowledge of events or sources that he believes to be accurate. His passion is to tell history, rather than create history. Williams’ says he has found historical writing to be fulfilling and fascinating.

Williams has written a new book, Tales of the Southwest, which will be available in late summer 2007. Williams, 77, lives in Tucson with his wife, Daisy.

 
Linda WommackLINDA WOMMACK – first came to write for The Tombstone Epitaph in 1995, after meeting former editor Dean Prichard at a Western Writers of American gathering in Colorado Springs. Prichard was the first to publish Wommack’s work nationally “and encouraged my work, stimulated my ideas with great conversation and gentle mentoring.” As a self-described “proud and loyal contributor,” to the Epitaph, Wommack’s work has appeared in several other local and national publications and she has written six books.

Wommack is a Colorado native, who was born and reared in Denver. Her first love is Colorado history. As a child, her parents took her on trips into local mountains and her mother read local history to her. Following college, Wommack returned to Denver and now lives just a few blocks from her childhood home.

“I believe Colorado and the Old West are entwined with one another,” says Wommack. “After all West is a big ol’ place – in geography and as a state of mind. While the Epitaph brings you the history of those days, the Old West is also full of legend and lore. It was a place to live out a dream, or escape from something. And it still is. When we read of the Old West, we all have that chance to dream and escape, if only for a little while.”

  
Jack ZieglerJACK ZIEGLER – Born in Paterson, N. J., in 1942, Jack Ziegler holds a B. A. and M. A. in English from Seton Hall University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Connecticut. After mustering out of the Army at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in 1972, Ziegler taught English, philosophy, film and humanities at Cochise College, in Sierra Vista, Ariz., until his retirement in 2004. Ziegler now writes and lectures about Arizona’s territorial period, and professional football, baseball and boxing before 1970. As a photographer, Ziegler is a member of Subway Gallery in Bisbee, Ariz. He also served as a scholar for the Arizona Humanities Council for 20 years.

Ziegler first became interested in the American West as a boy because his father avidly read paperback westerns. Further influences included the 1950s television series, “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp”; Walter Noble Burn’s book, Tombstone: An Iliad of the Southwest; and the western films of director John Ford.		  
Frederick SchoemehlFREDERICK SCHOEMEHL – Epitaph editor,  returned to the pages of the National Edition in summer 2006, after long-time editor Dean Prichard was critically injured in an accident at his Arizona ranch. An Indiana native  who began his career in the demanding world of daily journalism, earlier worked for the Epitaph organization in the mid-1970s when the National Edition was launched. Returning to Orange County, California, Schoemehl worked as a beat reporter, bureau chief and city editor at the Orange Coast Daily Pilot, an afternoon daily soon marginalized by two large morning papers, the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. As the Pilot sank like a stone down a well, Schoemehl moved into free-lance writing and other business pursuits before deciding, in the early 1990s, to enter graduate school. He later received a doctorate in U. S. History, with emphases in western and environmental history. As a student of nuclear developments in the West after World War II, principally at the Nevada Test Site, Schoemehl has taught at his alma mater, the University of California, Irvine and a neighboring campus, UC Riverside. His teaching assignments have included both ends of the U. S. survey – Colonial and 20th Century America; Native American History; and, more recently, seminar courses in historical research and writing.

When not editing the monthly Epitaph, working with students in intensive research and writing seminars or researching historical relationships between westerners and the federal government, Schoemehl continues to explore the geographic face of the West, mostly on foot. He has covered thousands of trail miles throughout the West, from Death Valley to Denali. Many of these jaunts are providing subject matter for a new Epitaph feature, “Wandering the West,” which pairs historical and travel information. Schoemehl still occasionally heads to the East to experience the landscape and beauty of the old, old, old west -- the Appalachian Mountains, particularly in the Virginias and the Carolinas.