Beth Staas

I am a coal miner’s daughter who once lived in a trailer across the railroad tracks, a member of the “Greatest Generation.” My parents were German immigrants, my father coming first to find a job and a place to live, then sending for the family. I was conceived in their joyous reunion. They didn’t know that this was the beginning of the Great Depression. But after hard work and careful savings, they opened a mom and pop store with my brother and sister pitching in after school. Then came World War II with the business flourishing. I attended college with battle-hardened veterans, one of whom I married. Since then, I have become a teacher, then a writer, a role I can pursue for the rest of my life.