|
|
|
|
 |
Bio
Joe Wheeler was born in St. Helena, in the Napa Valley, a fifth generation Californian. When he was eight, his family moved to Latin America as missionaries, thus he grew up bilingual with a deep appreciation of the Hispanic culture. His mother (both a trained teacher and public stage performer) home-schooled him for 14 of the first 16 years of his life. This mother of his, having memorized thousands of pages of poetry, short stories, and readings, was and is a master of the tear-jerker, and thus her son grew up with a deep love and appreciation for enduring heart-felt literature. He earned both a Bachelors and Masters in History from Pacific Union College; a Masters in English from Sacramento State University; and a Ph.D. in English (emphasis: History of Ideas) from Vanderbilt University. His doctoral dissertation dealt with the life and times of frontier writer, Zane Grey. He began publishing Zane Grey's West (a western fanzine) in 1979 and continued it until 1993. He founded the international Zane Grey's West Society in 1983, and continues as its Executive Director. He is considered to be the world's foremost authority on Zane Grey's life and writings, and is consulted in that respect by western museums, "Who wants to be a millionaire?" staff, and White House speechwriters. He has been the subject of three Associated Press and one UPI-syndicated interviews -- even appearing in a front page story in GRIT. He was western historian for Turner Network's documentary, Writers of the Purple Sage. He has taught on the junior high, senior high, junior college, college, and adult levels, and chaired departments of English and Communication in two colleges and one university, as well as directing an adult degree program for five years. He has held leadership roles in such service organizations as United Way and Kiwanis, as well as in public relations and development. He is currently Senior Fellow for Cultural Affairs at the Center for the New West in Denver, Colorado; and Emeritus Professor of English at Columbia Union College in Silver Spring, Maryland. Publishers consider him to be one of America's leading story anthologizers.
|
|
E-mail
us with questions or comments about this web site. |
