Sarah Hudson-Pierce
Encyclopedia
Sarah Rachel Hudson-Pierce (born February 22, 1948) is an author
of inspirational books, a publisher, a journalist
, and a former cable television
host in Shreveport
, the seat of Caddo Parish and the largest city in North Louisiana
.
in far northwestern Arkansas
near the Missouri
border. Her girlhood home, still in existence, was a house constructed in the 1840s
.
Sarah's mother, Marcella, was born in an underground American Indian
sod
dwelling near tiny Fairvalley in Woods County
in north central Oklahoma
. Marcella's grandparents, William Henry Morris (1833-1901) and the former Mary J. Barter (born 1838), had been among the pioneers who staked out 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) in the Oklahoma Land Rush. W. H. Morris was born in Monmuth County
, New Jersey
. Prior to the American Civil War
, he came to Linn County
Iowa
, where in 1855, he married the 16-year-old Mary Barter. He then attended medical school in Keokuk
, Iowa, having completed his instruction in 1864. The couple later moved to Oklahoma; three years after his death, Mary B. Morris was still living in Alva in Woods County.
Hudson-Pierce traces her ancestry in the future United States to Lewis Morris (1671-1746), the British
governor of New Jersey
from 1738 until his death. Previously Lewis Morris had been royal governor of the New York colony, which included New Jersey prior to the separation in 1738. This Lewis Morris' grandson, also Lewis Morris
(1719-1798), was a landowner and developer who in 1776 signed the Declaration of Independence
as a representative at the Second Continental Congress
from New York. Lewis Morris was a half-brother of Gouverneur Morris
(1752-1816), the New York City
native who was editor-in-chief of the United States Constitution
and author of its preamble.
Before her third birthday, Marcella Morris was playing on the soft dirt roof of her dwelling. She slipped, fell through the roof, sustained brain damage, and lapsed into a coma. Marcella's mother, meanwhile, was dying of typhoid fever
when this accident occurred. Marcella's six-year-old brother, Jimmy, had died of the fever some six weeks earlier. Marcella's father left his two daughters in the care of a kindly neighbor, Clara Knox, who became Marcella's foster mother. In 1914, Marcella's father remarried, and Marcella, at the age of eight, left the security of life with Clara. Marcella did not marry until she was in her late thirties and then only after her father, Sarah's grandfather, had died. Having lived into her nineties, Clara thereafter told Sarah of the tragic circumstances of Marcella's life.
Roy Hudson died, and Sarah lived with Marcella for four years. Marcella subsisted by taking odd jobs but became unable to care for Sarah. Hence, at the age of fourteen, Sarah went to live in the foster home of the late Cullen and Martha Adair of Grove
in Delaware County
in northeastern Oklahoma. Sarah was later placed in an orphanage
, the Turley Children's Home, now known as Hope Harbor, in Claremore
, near Tulsa
. She resided at Turley from 1962–1966.
Hudson-Pierce graduated in 1966 from McLain High School in Tulsa. Marcella lived for another three decades, having died in the nursing home in Grove. While she was in the eleventh grade at McLain, Sarah turned to creative writing and public speaking. From 1966-1967, she attended the conservative Church of Christ
-affiliated Harding University
(then College) in Searcy
in White County
north of Little Rock
.
poetry
:
Friendship Is A Journey (1987)
The Warming of Winter (1989)
To Soar Again! (1994)
Two others are inspirational pieces:
Southern Vignettes (1995)
Turning Points (1996), semi-autobiographical
Columnist
Erma Bombeck
dedicated her February 26, 1986, column to her friend Hudson-Pierce.
One of Hudson-Pierce's articles, "The Old Steamer Trunk", was published in Guideposts magazine
in January 1998. Richard "Dick" Schneider, a senior staff editor at Guideposts, said that Hudson-Pierce's selection was particularly poignant and fitting for the publication. Stories about the article were written in numerous newspapers across the nation.
From 1995-2008, Hudson-Pierce hosted her own television program in Shreveport through Time Warner
. She interviewed artists, authors, political figures, or anyone else of interest. She writes an occasional column for the Shreveport Times, one of which is on the difficulties of moving.Another is her autobiographical recollection of Christmas 1957.She has also written for the Bossier Tribune newspaper
of Bossier City
.
In 2002, Tanya Brasher Alexander, who resides near Shreveport, wrote a biographical poem of Hudson-Pierce's life.
in 1851 from Bern, Switzerland. Her first selection was the rejuvenation of a rare out-of-print book
titled Poems by Julia Pleasants Creswell, the great-grandmother of fthe late Shreveport Mayor
James C. Gardner
. Ritz also released two more of Julia Creswell's books: Aphelia and Other Poems and Callamura. Hdson-Pierce has also published two volumes of Jim Gardner's memoirs entitled Jim Gardner and Shreveport.
Successful Ritz books have included: Stone Justice (2001) by Debi King McMartin and Lyn Morgan, which details the tragic life of Toni Jo Henry
of Shreveport, who on November 28, 1942, became the only woman ever to have been executed in Louisiana's electric chair
. Henry's story has been compared to that of Karla Faye Tucker
in Texa
, executed in 1998. The motion picture The Pardon, filmed in Shreveport, is adapted from Stone Justice.
Still another Ritz publication, Will Somebody Call the Coroner?, is an autobiography
of Caddo Parish Coroner
Dr. Willis P. Butler (1888–1963), with the preface by the Shreveport historian
Eric J. Brock. Ritz Publications also offers Sarah Dorsey
's Recollections of Henry Watkins Allen
, a study of Louisiana's Confederate States of America
governor
. Dorsey owned the Biloxi
estate Beauvoir
and was a benefactor of Confederate President Jefferson Davis
.
Another Ritz release is Tinkerbelle, the story of Robert Manry
(1918–1971), a Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio
) copy editor who in 1965 solo-navigated the smallest sailboat
ever across the Atlantic
. Ritz offers a rare book, Our Baby's History (1898), by the American artist Frances Brundage
(1854–1937), who was particularly known for her depictions of wide-eyed Victorian
children.
In 2009, Ritz published Jerry Wray: Pioneer Artist Of The South by Shreveport artist Jerry Wray. That same year, Ritz published Mama's Boys, a novel by Matt Whitehead, a journalist and a former child protective service worker. Another 2009 publication is Investing Without A Net a collection of short vignettes by Shreveport author Larry LaBorde owner of a silver trading company and a local family-owned oil business.
In 2010, Ritz published an autobiography of Virginia Shehee
, the businesswoman from Shreveport who served in the Louisiana State Senate
from 1976-1980. The biography has have a coffee table format with an introduction by former Mayor
James C. Gardner
who was one of Shehee's classmates at Alexander Elementary School and C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport. The biography is titled Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee: First Lady of Shreveport.
. The couple has three children: Robin Lynette Pierce (born 1969) of Shreveport, Perry Loyce Pierce (born 1970) of Boston, Massachusetts, and Jeremy Winter Pierce (born 1976) of Searcy, Arkansas. There are two grandchildren. Hudson-Pierce has an older sister, Alice H. Roberts of Bastrop, Texas
, east of Austin
.
The Pierces divorce
d in 1994, after Sarah refused to move for the seventeenth time during the 27-year marriage. The family had lived in various communities in Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado
, New Mexico
, Texas
, and in Vivian
in northern Caddo Parish and Plain Dealing
in northern Bossier Parish, Louisiana.
Quoting the late M. Scott Peck
, psychiatrist
and author of The Road Less Traveled, Hudson-Pierce says that "Life is difficult. . . . It is in the attaining of goals that we blossom and grow. . . . I know that God
is the source of my strength and that without Him, I am nothing. . . ."
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of inspirational books, a publisher, a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, and a former cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
host in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, the seat of Caddo Parish and the largest city in North Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
Early years, family lineage, tragedy, and education
She was born to Roy Earnest Hudson (1895–1958) and the former Marcella May Morris (1906–1986) near Sulphur Springs, a small community in Benton CountyBenton County, Arkansas
Benton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, the population was 153,406. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 population is 221,339. The county seat is Bentonville. Benton County was formed on 30 September 1836 and was named after Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S...
in far northwestern Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
near the Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
border. Her girlhood home, still in existence, was a house constructed in the 1840s
1840s
- Wars :*Mexican-American War was fought between Mexico and the United States of America. The latter emerged victorious and gained undisputed control over Texas while annexing portions of Arizona, California and New Mexico....
.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
sod
Sod
Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of thin material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
dwelling near tiny Fairvalley in Woods County
Woods County, Oklahoma
Woods County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 9,089. Its county seat is Alva. The county is named after Samuel Newitt Wood, a renowned Kansas populist. -Geography:According to the U.S...
in north central Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. Marcella's grandparents, William Henry Morris (1833-1901) and the former Mary J. Barter (born 1838), had been among the pioneers who staked out 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) in the Oklahoma Land Rush. W. H. Morris was born in Monmuth County
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Prior to the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he came to Linn County
Linn County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 211,226 in the county, with a population density of . There were 92,251 housing units, of which 86,134 were occupied.-2000 census:...
Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, where in 1855, he married the 16-year-old Mary Barter. He then attended medical school in Keokuk
Keokuk, Iowa
Keokuk is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park...
, Iowa, having completed his instruction in 1864. The couple later moved to Oklahoma; three years after his death, Mary B. Morris was still living in Alva in Woods County.
Hudson-Pierce traces her ancestry in the future United States to Lewis Morris (1671-1746), the British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
governor of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
from 1738 until his death. Previously Lewis Morris had been royal governor of the New York colony, which included New Jersey prior to the separation in 1738. This Lewis Morris' grandson, also Lewis Morris
Lewis Morris
Lewis Morris was an American landowner and developer from Morrisania, New York. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress for New York....
(1719-1798), was a landowner and developer who in 1776 signed the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
as a representative at the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...
from New York. Lewis Morris was a half-brother of Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris , was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the...
(1752-1816), the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
native who was editor-in-chief of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and author of its preamble.
Before her third birthday, Marcella Morris was playing on the soft dirt roof of her dwelling. She slipped, fell through the roof, sustained brain damage, and lapsed into a coma. Marcella's mother, meanwhile, was dying of typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
when this accident occurred. Marcella's six-year-old brother, Jimmy, had died of the fever some six weeks earlier. Marcella's father left his two daughters in the care of a kindly neighbor, Clara Knox, who became Marcella's foster mother. In 1914, Marcella's father remarried, and Marcella, at the age of eight, left the security of life with Clara. Marcella did not marry until she was in her late thirties and then only after her father, Sarah's grandfather, had died. Having lived into her nineties, Clara thereafter told Sarah of the tragic circumstances of Marcella's life.
Roy Hudson died, and Sarah lived with Marcella for four years. Marcella subsisted by taking odd jobs but became unable to care for Sarah. Hence, at the age of fourteen, Sarah went to live in the foster home of the late Cullen and Martha Adair of Grove
Grove, Oklahoma
Grove is a city in Delaware County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,131 at the 2000 census, but the 2009 estimate was 6,377.-Geography:Grove is located at ....
in Delaware County
Delaware County, Oklahoma
Delaware County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 37,077 and the newest population estimate is 45,000. Its county seat is Jay. The county was named for the Delaware Indians resettled in what was then Indian Territory in the 1830s. .Delaware County...
in northeastern Oklahoma. Sarah was later placed in an orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
, the Turley Children's Home, now known as Hope Harbor, in Claremore
Claremore, Oklahoma
Claremore is a city and the county seat of Rogers County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 18,581 at the 2010 census, a 17.1 percent increase from 15,873 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area and home to Rogers State University...
, near Tulsa
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
. She resided at Turley from 1962–1966.
Hudson-Pierce graduated in 1966 from McLain High School in Tulsa. Marcella lived for another three decades, having died in the nursing home in Grove. While she was in the eleventh grade at McLain, Sarah turned to creative writing and public speaking. From 1966-1967, she attended the conservative Church of Christ
Church of Christ
Churches of Christ are autonomous Christian congregations associated with one another through common beliefs and practices. They seek to base doctrine and practice on the Bible alone, and seek to be New Testament congregations as originally established by the authority of Christ. Historically,...
-affiliated Harding University
Harding University
Harding University is located in Searcy, Arkansas, in the United States, about north-east of Little Rock. It is a private liberal arts Christian university associated with the Churches of Christ. The university takes its name from James A...
(then College) in Searcy
Searcy, Arkansas
Searcy is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,663. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County...
in White County
White County, Arkansas
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 77,076. The county seat is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for Hugh Lawson White, a...
north of Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
.
Hudson-Pierce the author
Her interest in creative writing paid off; over the years, Hudson-Pierce has written five books, three being free verseFree verse
Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form...
poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
:
Friendship Is A Journey (1987)
The Warming of Winter (1989)
To Soar Again! (1994)
Two others are inspirational pieces:
Southern Vignettes (1995)
Turning Points (1996), semi-autobiographical
Columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
Erma Bombeck
Erma Bombeck
Erma Louise Bombeck was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper column that described suburban home life from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s...
dedicated her February 26, 1986, column to her friend Hudson-Pierce.
One of Hudson-Pierce's articles, "The Old Steamer Trunk", was published in Guideposts magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
in January 1998. Richard "Dick" Schneider, a senior staff editor at Guideposts, said that Hudson-Pierce's selection was particularly poignant and fitting for the publication. Stories about the article were written in numerous newspapers across the nation.
From 1995-2008, Hudson-Pierce hosted her own television program in Shreveport through Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. She interviewed artists, authors, political figures, or anyone else of interest. She writes an occasional column for the Shreveport Times, one of which is on the difficulties of moving.Another is her autobiographical recollection of Christmas 1957.She has also written for the Bossier Tribune newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
of Bossier City
Bossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...
.
In 2002, Tanya Brasher Alexander, who resides near Shreveport, wrote a biographical poem of Hudson-Pierce's life.
Ritz Publications of Shreveport
In 2002, Hudson-Pierce launched, on a shoestring budget, Ritz Publications, named for her maternal great grandfather Nicholas Ritz, who came to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1851 from Bern, Switzerland. Her first selection was the rejuvenation of a rare out-of-print book
Out-of-print book
An out-of-print book is a book that is no longer being published. Out-of-print books are often rare, and may be difficult to acquire.A publisher will usually create a print run of a fixed number of copies of a new book. These books can be ordered in bulk by booksellers, and when all the...
titled Poems by Julia Pleasants Creswell, the great-grandmother of fthe late Shreveport Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
James C. Gardner
James C. Gardner
James Creswell Gardner, I, known as Jim Gardner , was a power company executive best known as the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, who served a single term from 1954-1958....
. Ritz also released two more of Julia Creswell's books: Aphelia and Other Poems and Callamura. Hdson-Pierce has also published two volumes of Jim Gardner's memoirs entitled Jim Gardner and Shreveport.
Successful Ritz books have included: Stone Justice (2001) by Debi King McMartin and Lyn Morgan, which details the tragic life of Toni Jo Henry
Toni Jo Henry
Toni Jo Henry , , was the only woman executed in Louisiana's electric chair .-Early life:...
of Shreveport, who on November 28, 1942, became the only woman ever to have been executed in Louisiana's electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
. Henry's story has been compared to that of Karla Faye Tucker
Karla Faye Tucker
Karla Faye Tucker was convicted of murder in Texas in 1984 and put to death in 1998. She was the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1984, and the first in Texas since 1863...
in Texa
Texa
Texa is a small island directly south of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. It reaches a height of at its highest point, Ceann Garbh. It is part of the parish of Kildalton on Islay. The distilleries of Laphroaig and Lagavulin are nearby on the Islay coast, as well as Port Ellen...
, executed in 1998. The motion picture The Pardon, filmed in Shreveport, is adapted from Stone Justice.
Still another Ritz publication, Will Somebody Call the Coroner?, is an autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
of Caddo Parish Coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
Dr. Willis P. Butler (1888–1963), with the preface by the Shreveport historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Eric J. Brock. Ritz Publications also offers Sarah Dorsey
Sarah Dorsey
Sarah Dorsey was an American novelist and historian.-Biography:Born Sarah Anne Ellis to Thomas George Percy Ellis and Mary Malvina Routh in Natchez, Mississippi, she became a novelist and historian. She was known as the "companion" of Jefferson Davis, to whom she proved a great boon in his...
's Recollections of Henry Watkins Allen
Henry Watkins Allen
Henry Watkins Allen was an American soldier and politician, and a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
, a study of Louisiana's Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
. Dorsey owned the Biloxi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
estate Beauvoir
Beauvoir
Beauvoir can refer to any of the following:Buildings*Beauvoir , post-American Civil War home of Confederate States of America President Jefferson DavisPeople*Jean Beauvoir, American musician....
and was a benefactor of Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
.
Another Ritz release is Tinkerbelle, the story of Robert Manry
Robert Manry
Robert Manry was a copy editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer who in 1965 sailed from Falmouth, Massachusetts, to Falmouth, Cornwall, England, in a tiny sailboat named Tinkerbelle...
(1918–1971), a Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
) copy editor who in 1965 solo-navigated the smallest sailboat
Sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...
ever across the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. Ritz offers a rare book, Our Baby's History (1898), by the American artist Frances Brundage
Frances Brundage
Frances Isabelle Brundage was an American illustrator best known for her depictions of attractive and endearing children on postcards, valentines, calendars, and other ephemera published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Samuel Gabriel Company, and Saalfield Publishing. She received an education in art at...
(1854–1937), who was particularly known for her depictions of wide-eyed Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
children.
In 2009, Ritz published Jerry Wray: Pioneer Artist Of The South by Shreveport artist Jerry Wray. That same year, Ritz published Mama's Boys, a novel by Matt Whitehead, a journalist and a former child protective service worker. Another 2009 publication is Investing Without A Net a collection of short vignettes by Shreveport author Larry LaBorde owner of a silver trading company and a local family-owned oil business.
In 2010, Ritz published an autobiography of Virginia Shehee
Virginia Shehee
Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee is a Shreveport businesswoman and civic leader and the first female state senator from District 38. She won her seat in the 1975 general election by 23 votes over incumbent Cecil K. Carter, Jr. and served a single term until 1980. She was defeated in 1979 by fellow...
, the businesswoman from Shreveport who served in the Louisiana State Senate
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
from 1976-1980. The biography has have a coffee table format with an introduction by former Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
James C. Gardner
James C. Gardner
James Creswell Gardner, I, known as Jim Gardner , was a power company executive best known as the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, who served a single term from 1954-1958....
who was one of Shehee's classmates at Alexander Elementary School and C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport. The biography is titled Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee: First Lady of Shreveport.
Personal life
Sarah left college in 1967 to marry Charles Edwin Pierce (born 1941), a minister in the Church of Christ originally from Falcon in Nevada County in south Arkansas near MagnoliaMagnolia, Arkansas
Magnolia is a city in Columbia County, Arkansas, United States, that was founded in 1853. At the time of its incorporation in 1858, the city had a population of about 1,950. The city grew slowly as an agricultural and regional cotton market until the discovery of oil just east of the city in March,...
. The couple has three children: Robin Lynette Pierce (born 1969) of Shreveport, Perry Loyce Pierce (born 1970) of Boston, Massachusetts, and Jeremy Winter Pierce (born 1976) of Searcy, Arkansas. There are two grandchildren. Hudson-Pierce has an older sister, Alice H. Roberts of Bastrop, Texas
Bastrop, Texas
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there are 5340 people in Bastrop, organized into 2034 households and 1336 families. The population density is 734.8 people per square mile . There are 2,239 housing units at an average density of 308.1 per square mile...
, east of Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
.
The Pierces divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d in 1994, after Sarah refused to move for the seventeenth time during the 27-year marriage. The family had lived in various communities in Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and in Vivian
Vivian, Louisiana
Vivian, is a town in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States and is home to the Red Bud Festival. The population was 4,031 at the 2000 census...
in northern Caddo Parish and Plain Dealing
Plain Dealing, Louisiana
Plain Dealing is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States best known as the birthplace of former U.S. Representative Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. The population was 1,071 at the 2000 census...
in northern Bossier Parish, Louisiana.
Quoting the late M. Scott Peck
M. Scott Peck
Morgan Scott Peck was an American psychiatrist and best-selling author, best known for his first book, The Road Less Traveled, published in 1978.-Biography:...
, psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
and author of The Road Less Traveled, Hudson-Pierce says that "Life is difficult. . . . It is in the attaining of goals that we blossom and grow. . . . I know that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
is the source of my strength and that without Him, I am nothing. . . ."