Of Woods and Waters: A Kentucky Outdoors Reader

Acknowledgments

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S Of Woods and Waters came together because of the hard work and dedication of many minds and hearts, and so there are many people I wish to thank: First and foremost, I am grateful to the writers and artists who contributed their work; to Bill Coffey of Frankfort, Kentucky , for providing the front cover painting "The Fisherman" by Paul Sawyier; and to Bill Caddell of Franklin, Indiana, for providing the Harlan Hubbard woodcuts used throughout the collection. Special thanks are also due the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR); Dave Baker, editor of Kentucky Afield, who was enthusiastic about this collection from the beginning ; and the department's wildlife artist Rick Hill for his beautiful back cover painting "Pitching Down" and his pen and ink drawings illustrating the text. Thanks also to KDFWR'S John A. Boone for scanning those drawings and paintings, Nancy Mclver for research assistance, and Lee McClellan and Norm Minch for providing and updating the lists of Kentucky's record fish and white-tailed deer, respectively. My warm thanks and gratitude go to Nick Lyons for his continued support, friendship, and encouragement and for his wonderful foreword, which happily reveals his own important connections to Kentucky. He has taught me many things, especially about books, art, writing, and, of course, fishing. The research needed to assemble this collection required the assistance and counsel of colleagues located at libraries, universities , and organizations throughout the region. Let me begin XIX by thanking my friends and colleagues at Northern Kentucky University: Steely Library's Jennifer Gregory, Ann Harding, Rebecca Kelm, and especially Cynthia Valletta, without whom the content of this collection would not be nearly as complete; Dr. James C. Claypool, emeritus professor of history; and Dr. Danny Miller, chair, Department of Literature and Language. Thanks also to Steve Albert of the Kenton County Public Library , Albert Pyle and Mark Pierce at Cincinnati's Mercantile Library, Beth Cunningham at Eastern Kentucky University's Crabbe Library, and Sharon Bidwell, librarian for the Louisville Courier-Journal. For additional assistance and counsel, many thanks to teacherauthor -bookseller Richard Taylor for his early belief in this collection ; the Kentucky Post's Mark Neikirk, Jim Reis, and Tim Stein; Laurie Risch, executive director of the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Covington; Mike Embry, editor of Kentucky Monthly; Lisa McDowell Snuggs, executive director of the SouthXX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS eastern Outdoor Press Association; Joel Vance, historian for the Outdoor Writers Association of America; Mary Ellen Miller, coordinator of Western Kentucky University's Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies; Jonathan Greene, publisher of Gnomon Press; and Jeanie Thompson, poet, teacher, friend, and executive director of the Alabama Writers' Forum. I am also grateful to those colleagues who worked so hard behind the scenes: Linda Lotz for the meticulous copyediting, Julie Allred for the book's perfect design, and Merrill Gilfillan for his counsel and careful proofreading. I am extremely grateful to Stephen Wrinn, director of the University Press of Kentucky, for the opportunity to edit the collection, and to the Press's Anne Dean Watkins, Gena Henry, Lin Wirkus, Leila Salisbury, Wyn Morris, Mack McCormick, and Allison Webster. Special thanks to my friend and colleague Mary Ellen Elsbernd for her support of my dream of "living the writing life" and for understanding my insatiable love of "woods and waters," which served as an inspiration, as did the writings of Jim Wayne Miller, in naming this collection. Thanks also to my friend John A. Ruthven and to Anne Caudill. And, as always, my love and gratitude to my wife, Debbie, who is my best friend and who makes this writing dream possible. The following sources were invaluable in preparing Of Woods and Waters: "Chronology of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources" (Spring-Summer 1995), compiled by Kimberly M. Hermes; Conversations with Kentucky Writers I and II, edited by L. Elizabeth Beattie; Fishing Reel Makers of Kentucky by Steven K. Vernon and Frank M. Stewart III; Happy Hunting Ground; Home and Beyond: An Anthology of Kentucky Short Stories, edited by Morris Allen Grubbs; Kentucky Afield; A Kentucky Christmas, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XXI edited by George Ella Lyon; The Kentucky Encyclopedia, edited by John E. Kleber; Kentucky in American Letters 1784-1912 (volumes 1 and 2) by John Wilson Townsend; Kentucky Renaissance: An Anthology of Contemporary Writing, edited by Jonathan Greene; KLiT (a...