Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies. A native Floridian, she grew up on a farm in northern Madison County, Florida, and was the second of six children born to Murphy and Doris Everett. After graduating from Madison High School and North Florida Junior College (now North Florida Community College), she transferred to Florida State University, where she earned a Bachelor’s and later a Master’s Degree in English Education. Ruth moved to Titusville, Florida in 1966 to accept her first teaching job and remained there to make it her home and has twelve grandchildren.

After more than thirty years of teaching English, twenty-five of those years at Brevard Community College (now Eastern Florida State College), Ruth retired and is enjoying having more time to read and continue her writing. Over the years she has been a member of several local writing groups, and her poetry and fiction have been published in a variety of literary magazines and anthologies. Ruth's first novel, Reparation, was published in 2013 by the Florida Historical Society Press.

Sherry Johnson is assistant professor of history and Cuban studies at Florida International University. She is the author of articles on Cuban and Florida history in such journals as Florida Historical Quarterly, Hispanic American Historical Review, Cuban Studies, and Colonial Latin American Historical Review.

Eliot Kleinberg is an author and a news and features writer for the Palm Beach Post in Palm Beach County, Florida United States.

Born in Coral Gables, Florida in 1956, Kleinberg grew up in South Florida and later attended the University of Florida. He worked as a reporter for The Dallas Morning News from 1984 through 1987, when he returned to Florida. He has written extensively about many different aspects of Florida, and is most notable for his two books Weird Florida and Weird Florida II, in which he covers strange facts and occurrences in Florida. He is currently a news and features writer for the Palm Beach Post.

DON DAVID ARGO ROCKLEDGE He didnt like people calling him a genius, but they did anyway. A true academician who fully deserved the title of professor, Rockledge resident, Dr. Don David Argo, 72, passed away on Sunday, October 19, 2008, after a valiant battle against cancer. Many will remember him for his TV series of BCC math courses. By the multi-thousands, students have remembered him as the greatest teacher of mathematics they ever encountered, not only because of his gift for math, but for his inspiring nature. Few have touched the lives of so many. Born on December 28, 1935, in Stuttgart, Arkansas, Don began teaching math and coaching high school football and basketball at the age of 19 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. An avid sportsman and athlete, he played semi-pro baseball, college football, and won a Golden Gloves boxing championship. He moved to Brevard County in 1967 where he began a thirty- eight-year career as a mathematics professor at Brevard Community College, rising to the position of Department Chair of the Math/Science Department in 1992. In 1997, he received the Distinguished Educator of the Year Award from BCC. During his career, he earned a bachelors, two masters, and a doctoral degree. Don Argo had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, reading books by the hundreds, studying history and pursuing a passion for the written word. In 2001, Dons popular historical novel, Canaveral Light, which tells a poignant story of mans struggles forming a new settlement following the Civil War, was published. Highly acclaimed, this book won the Patrick Smith Award for Literature in 2002. He also received the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 2006. Professor Argo was a founding member of the Space Coast Writers Guild and later served as president. In 2008, the Guild initiated the "Don Argo Florida Fiction Award" in his honor. His love of math, teaching and writing was born of his love for humanity, and a quest to guide others with his broad knowledge and unique brilliance. He will be forever remembered as a legend in his community. Don Argo was an artist, historian, humorist, musician, mentor, theorist and pilot, but above all he was a loving husband and proud, devoted father. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Kathy; four children, Kim, Kevin, Sean and Shaara, and two grandchildren, D.J. and Shelby. -  FLORIDA TODAY on Oct. 23, 2008