Lois Hawk ToddGrowing up in Lebanon, Oregon, a Northwest plywood town, my life was simple and easy. I spent my growing up years in the same house. We knew all our neighbors. My parents were committed to our community via the town's Presbyterian church and the loca Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter. Yet the times were not simple. A lot was happening in the sixties and seventies. Women's rights, Civil Rights, the Vietnam War, all caused turmoil across America, which rattled our dining room table as well. Dad helped his fellow plywood workers form a union. Mom rallied the family to boycott grapes during the United Farm Workers Delano Grape Strike. I was taught our voices were important to my community and my country. Yet through it all, our house was a place of laughter and fun. Open mind, open heart, were always encouraged, compassion and kindness as well.I built my own family in Paonia, Colorado, a small town on the state's Western Slope. My husband, Allen Todd, owned and operated a sawmill for over forty-five years. He's now retired. Our son, Ryan Todd, calls the community home and farms nearby.I've published two books. The first, Facing Up: A Patient's Guide to Healing the Face, follows my experiences after being stuck in the face by an eighty-five mile an hour baseball that shattered my face and the later cancer that developed because of the accident. My second book, which I both wrote and illustrated, is Lessons From My Father. In it, I look back at everyday happenings with Dad that brought me lifelong lessons. Read More Read Less