Eunice Maybelle Hawkes was brought into this world with aide of a midwife, on January 18th, 1918 on the old country road, in Spainville, Nottoway County, Virginia, a very rural area back then, also known as Wellville.

    She was born during a time when the world was emerging from turmoil. Ten months after her birth, World War l came to an end on November 11, 1918 and the world began the process of recuperating. The 1920’s ushered in a new era of abundance in the United States…”The Roaring Twenties”…a whole decade that was a time of unprecedented prosperity, as well as the emergence of new music ...jazz... from 1920 thru 1929 and beyond. And, even though the TV was invented in 1920, "Radio" for the public in the 1920's was the norm. Eunice grew-up listening to the radio, when there was one available.

   Then the Great Depression of the 1930’s would hit every family in America. As a young teenager, growing up, in a rural farming community, Eunice and her family would experience it to a greater degree. 

   At 21 years old Eunice left Blackstone, Virginia, moving to Baltimore, Maryland, continuing her “journey down the road.” There she met her soul-mate, her future husband, Lowell M. Thomas. By the time Eunice was 23 years old, the couple moved to Greenburgh, New York, married, put down roots, and began raising a large family. They were married for thirty-eight years. Eunice resided in Greenburgh until 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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   Eunice was an avid reader from the time she realized she could read, at five years old. My mother told me, ‘Ever since I was a little girl I fingered every book I came across. I love to read,’ and she did read well into her 80's.  

 

Determination…So, when her eyesight began to dim from macular degeneration, Eunice was more motivated to, and did, write her own stories ... stories that had long been in her mind. She began by narrating the family histories, as she knew them, Hawkes, Fitzgerald, Thomas and Thompson. Once completed, she moved on to narrate short stories, prose and poetry, her memoirs and household tidbits, as well. This culminated in approximately fifty to sixty works in all.

 

Steadfast…Every day, even with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Eunice dictated on an old cassette deck, using one finger to record, pause, rewind and play. 

 

Success…Daily, working as a team, Eunice narrated while I researched, transcribed and edited the stories. This first volume, “A Treasury of Short Stories From The Heart & Soul”, contains eight of the stories.

 

                                                     By CRT