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Show Western Novel Work Of Summer Resident TROPIC - J. D. Harkleroad Is the author of "Horsethlef Trail," a western novel set in Northern Arizona which features rough-and-tumble Race Evans, cowhand and former jailbird, who stumbles into an ugly situation where he must battle rustlers, gunmen, and a killer blizzard. Garfield County residents, were surprised to learn that rugged Race Evans and his exciting rocky adventures are.the creation of the fertile mind of soft and feminine Jo-Ann Decker Harkleroad, summer resident of this tiny town tucked under the flaming cliffs of Bryce Canyon National Park. Mrs. Harkleroad who acknowledges that she "relates better to men" writes all her novels from the "male point of view." The author was recently informed at the picturesque pre-Civil war country home In Clifton, Virginia, where she and her husband spent their winter months, that "Horsethief Trail" had made the Western ratings chart for the first time according to Western Writers of America. The talented lady sports a sophisticated resume that belies her friendly, casual manner, and a background of life in a historical seciton of America that could someday provide the impetus for another "Gone With the Wind." Meticulous in her research, her novels reflect an unusual accuracy rarely found in novels of their type. Her New York agent is currently trying to sell her latest novel, the story of a World War II pilot. Principal setting for the novel is the fictional town of Prophet in Bryce Valley. Endowed with a drive and vigor that contradicts a life punctuated with serious respiratory illness, Mrs. Harkleroad states that the publication of her first novel is the culimination of her life's dream. She has, she says gratefully, achieved each ambition that she had hoped for in life. She appreciates "just being alive and thanks God for her good fortune." The multi-talented Mrs. Harkleroad has been a teacher, and educational diagnostician working with levels kindergarten through college, and a supervisor of ESEA Title I, a federally funded program for educationally deprived youngsters. In 1971 she was recognized nationally for her work in education and included among Leaders of American Elementary and Secondary Education. The youthful Mrs. Harkleroad whose 43 years are still trying to catch up with her, is the mother of an equally talented 25 year old son, Leon, an associate professor of mathematics at McMurry College at Abilene, Texas, where he lives with his wife Edie. The three presented a concert for Bryce Valley residents featuring organ, piano, and voice before leaving the area at the end of summer 1979. Husband Dwayne is a Pit I fill Jo-Ann Harkleroad subschool principal in historical Clifton where he and his wife raise quarterhorses. Benevolently he encourages his wife's interest and supports her in her quest for new things to do. She calls him a "southern gentleman" who could easily be the hero in one of her books. |
