Mr. S. R. McCoy

Samuel Richard McCoy grew up in Bellwood, Pennsylvania, a small town near the center of the state. He graduated from what is now Millersville University, located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with a degree in Secondary Education, having majored in English with a minor in history. After graduation he taught English at Asbury Park (NJ) High School before moving to Washington, D.C., where he was employed by the General Services Administration of the United States Government.

He married and moved with his wife to the Virginia suburbs, where they raised their two children, a son and a daughter. He continued to work for the federal government for thirty years before retiring. He and his wife now reside in the city of Waynesboro, Virginia, at the western foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The son of a Pennsylvania Railroad employee, he accompanied his parents on numerous train trips throughout the country before leaving home for college. It was during that time

that he developed a love for train travel and an interest in railroading. That interest shows itself in the frequent railroad-related stories told by Raphael Moses, one of the main characters in "Conflict in the Wilderness", Mr. McCoy's first novel.