EBCN Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Boyum and Justice Kirk Saunooke appear in a photo with former Chief Justice Harry C. Martin and Justice Matthew Martin in Jack J. Prather’s new book of biographies: Twelve Notables in Western North Carolina. Prather’s sixth book (400-pages/134-photos) was recently nominated for the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association’s 2012 Ragan Old North State Award for Non-Fiction, formerly The Mayflower Cup.
The book is now available at the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site; several outlets on the Blue Ridge Parkway and soon the Great Smokey Mountains, online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and book sites worldwide, upscale gift shops, museums and bookstores by request.
Prather founded the Young Writers Scholarship at Warren Wilson College near last May in honor of the Notables, and donates a portion of book proceeds to the fund.
The book features testimonials from such luminaries as ABC-TV’s Katie Couric, late traditional music legend Doc Watson, former NC Governor Jim Hunt, NC Secretary of State Elaine Marshal, former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Exum, and biographer Bruce Chadwick; plus career highlights, writings by and about the Notables, chronologies, and photo-arrays.
Selected after in-depth research and recommendations from credible sources such as the NC Bar Association, the NC Arts Council, and leaders in higher education, the 12 Notables are:
Judge Harry C. Martin, former NC and EBCN Supreme Court Justice, Biltmore Forest; Rev. Dr. Dan Matthews, priest at Ground Zero on 9/11, owner of the Swag Inn, Waynesville; David Holt, Grammy-winning musician, storyteller, PBS-TV Host, Fairview; Doug Orr, president emeritus of Warren Wilson College, musician and author, and Dr. Olson Huff, founding Medical Director of Mission Children’s Hospital, former president of the NC Pediatrics Association and author, both of Black Mountain; Glenis Redmond, Hall of Fame Performance Poet, Kennedy Center Teaching Artist, Sandburg resident poet, formerly Asheville; Julyan Davis, British Southern Art painter, international galleries, Asheville; Joe Epley, global public relations leader, PRSA Lifetime Award, novelist, Tryon; Billie Ruth Sudduth, first woman NC Living Treasure, basket artist in Smithsonian collection, and Richard C. Ritter, 2011 NC Living Treasure studio glass artist and honored Fire Chief, both of Bakersville; Dr. Matt Hayes, emergency physician pioneer, co-founder of Emergency Department of Nurses, Hendersonville; and Captain Ray West, USNR-ret., founder of the Moldova World Children’s Fund, Flat Rock.
– Future Now Publishing
