The Authors of the OE
Linda Crew is a fourth-generation Oregonian and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism. Among her nine books are historical novels Fire on the Wind (1933 Tillamook Burn), Brides of Eden: A True Story Imagined, and A Heart for Any Fate: Westward to Oregon: 1845, winner of the Oregon Book Award and the Willa, named for Willa Cather and given by Women Writing the West. Her first novel, Children of the River, won the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award. She lives at Wake Robin Farm in Corvallis, where she and her husband are tree farmers.
Mary Bywater Cross has worked since 1981 in the field of quilt history, taking their value as visual records of human experience beyond the confines of the traditional quilting world to the broader public. Her research has resulted in two books and numerous articles on quilts of migration made by and for women who traveled the Oregon and Mormon Trails. She has curated exhibits of historic and contemporary quilts for regional museums and educational institutions and has lectured in Canada, England, and across America. She travels Oregon as an OCH Chautauqua Scholar.
Lynn Darroch has been writing about jazz and related music for the Oregonian and nationally-circulated magazines since 1979. He edits the monthly magazine Jazzscene, and has written chapters on music figures for The Encyclopedia of United States Popular Culture (Popular Press) and covered the history of jazz in Portland, 1965-present, in the Afterword to Jumptown: the Golden Years of Portland Jazz (Oregon State University Press). He hosts a weekly show on KMHD 89.1 FM and performs live music/spoken word pieces about jazz musicians, recorded on the CDs, Local Heroes/American Originals (2009) and Jazz Stories — Heroes of the Americas (2005).
John C. Davies was brought up and educated in London, United Kingdom. He read English language and literature at Kings College, London, where he gained an M. Phil. He was awarded a Ph.D. in American Studies from Nottingham University and was head of American Studies at Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln. He has published articles on William Carlos Williams, Craig Lesley, Molly Gloss, and Robin Cody and has presented papers on Northwest authors at conferences of the Western Literature Association. He has taught ten summer sessions on northwestern literature at Portland State University.
Doug Decker has studied Tillamook Burn history for more than a decade and has helped to build an archive of oral history interviews, photos, maps, and other materials that help create an understanding about the history of the Tillamook Burn area. He served as project leader for development of the Tillamook Forest Center and currently serves as executive director of the nonprofit Tillamook Forest Heritage Trust.
David Peterson del Mar teaches nontraditional students for Portland State University, Oregon State University, and the University of Oregon. He is the author of five books, including Oregon’s Promise: An Interpretive History, and is a consultant for Teaching American History grants. He co-facilitates dialogues with Uniting to Understand Racism and is a board member of Watoto Wa Dunia, which supports community development in Kenya.
Bob DenOuden graduated from the University of Oregon in 1988 received a masters degree from the University of Idaho in 1998. He works as an analyst and geographer with Lane Council of Governments in Eugene. He has interests in Pacific Northwest geography and history as well as hydrology and "sense of place."
Ted Dethlefs was born in Chehalis, Washington. After serving in the U.S. Navy as an aerial navigator in World War II, he earned his BA in Business and his MA in Recreation. From 1968 to 1980, he was the Recreation Technician for Oregon State Parks. He is one of the authors of Oregon's Five-Year Recreation Plan—a comprehensive program addressing the outdoor recreation needs of a diverse and growing population.
Gary Dielman has published over three dozen articles about Baker County history, plus two articles in the Oregon Historical Quarterly. For over twenty-five years, he has been the volunteer curator of Baker County Library's archives, which holds over 6,000 historic photographs. He has an M.A. from the University of Iowa and has taught at Purdue University.
John Doan is a music historian, professor of music at Willamette University, and one of the few masters of the twenty-string harp guitar. He starred in two television specials on PBS with his "A Victorian Christmas with John Doan," which received an Emmy nomination for Best Entertainment Special of the Year. His recording Eire-Isle of the Saints won Best Celtic Album of the Year. John's most recent recording, The Lost Music of Fernando Sor, is the first time Sor's harpolyre music has been heard since it was written in 1830.
