Virginia Melville Cowart was born in Coronado, California on August 25th 1924, the daughter of a U S Navy World War I veteran, granddaughter of a Spanish-American Army veteran and ultimately the wife of a World War II Navy veteran. She left California at age three and moved to Cavite, Philippines with her mother and sister. When she was seven, they joined her Navy father in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, where they lived until February, 1945. She and her officer husband met at the U S Navy Registered Publications Issuing Office, Pearl Harbor and were married in Honolulu on July 19, 1944. They moved to Oakland, California after the War and the birth of their daughter, Shirley Ann, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. James Allen Cowart was born in Berkeley, California on May 27, 1947. Virginia worked as an Instructional Aide with Educationally Handicapped and Deaf children for almost ten years. She loved the written word from the time that she was a child and one of her poems was chosen for publication in a children's' book. She has had articles published in various magazines and newspapers and was Editor of her Homeowner's Association newsletter for two years. She is a featured author in Larry King's book, "Love Stories of World War II." She and her beloved husband, Jim, were married for sixty-one years until his death on August 30th, 2005.