ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a proud descendant of Louisiana’s original explorers and settlers, H. F. Vestal finds her French lineage inspiring and fascinating. She was raised by her French-speaking maternal grandparents in Evangeline Parish. She married Gerald G. Vestal and is the proud mother of four children.
Following the birth of her fourth child, she left her ten-year banking profession behind to begin her college studies. Louis Antoine Juchereau de Saint-Denis, her seventh great-grandfather, founded the city of Natchitoches, where she earned her Master of Education from Northwestern State University.
She retired from teaching after thirty-plus years and credits her husband, an educator and school administrator, with having a significant influence on her career path. In addition, three of her four children are educators.
A perpetual daydreamer as a child, she preferred thinking about the past or hypothetical scenarios of the future, rather than the present. She despises the boring old-fashioned way of teaching and prefers learning via inquiry, discovery, predictions, and conclusions that encourage independent thought.
She received training in the Johns Hopkins’ Success for All Reading Program in Baltimore, Maryland. As a peer facilitator in a large Texas school district, she supervised the students’ progress in her school and introduced the program to neighboring school districts interested in implementing it.
INTERESTS
Since her retirement, the Pelican State native has devoted her time to researching, writing, and painting. She lives in the Houston, Texas area with her son, Mark, and a Great Pyrenees mix named, Jax, who is always by her side.
CHARITIES
A portion of all book sale revenues will be donated to “no-kill” animal shelters and other non-profit organizations.