Donald Nations has been interested in writing since high school. He believes that the power of words to express the writer’s feelings while also evoking emotion, compassion, and interest from the reader is an amazing thing. As a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he worked as a reporter, photographer, and news editor for a variety of newspapers for ten years. From there, he moved into corporate communications and marketing in the engineering and architectural industry. That work prepared him to become a contract technical writer in the software development field.

He made a mid-life career change in 1999 to become a cabinetmaker, where he toiled until veering back into full-time technical writing for ten years before he retired. He has been known to write letters to the editor on religious and political topics that have been published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Don enjoys woodworking, swimming, travel, writing, and finding ways to get regular exercise. He makes his home in St. Charles, Missouri, with his wife, Marcia, and their mixed-breed terrier, Twyla. Don graduated from St. Charles High School two years ahead of Sam Schropp. With the advent of Facebook, they connected and became better acquainted after Don and his wife visited the Schropp’s ranch in Estancia, New Mexico. When Don expressed his interest in writing a book someday about the American West, Sam said, “Well, why don’t you write a book about me? Ann and I have no children and it would be a shame not to pass on my stories to someone.” That is how this whole project came about.