Half-Past Winter

Nancy Hopkins Reily was born in Dallas, Texas about mid-way between the Great Depression of 1929 and 1941 when the United States entered World War II. She was named after a McCall's magazine story with the heroine named Nancy, a name her mother liked. With two brothers she didn't play dolls, but played baseball and football in the neighborhood, caught fireflies at night and climbed the low branch tree in their yard. Since childhood, Reily has divided her time between Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. Her college education began at Gulf Park College, Gulfport, Mississippi and ended with a B.B.A. degree from Southern Methodist University. After college she joined the ranks of marriage, homemaker and motherhood. This led to a career of volunteering for many organizations. She is the author of "Classic Outdoor Color Portraits, A Guide for Photographers"; "Georgia O'Keeffe, A Private Friendship, Part I, Walking the Sun Prairie Land"; "Georgia O'Keeffe, A Private Friendship, Part II, Walking the Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch Land"; "Joseph Imhof, Artist of the Pueblos" with Lucille Enix, "My Wisdom That No One Wants," and "Half-Past Winter," all from Sunstone Press, and "I Am At An Age," Best of East Texas Publishers. Reily makes her home in Lufkin, Texas.

Nancy Hopkins Reily thought she knew everything she needed to know when she published I Am At An Age in 1990 at age fifty. She says, "I had compiled my life's experiences with metaphors using the mountains as background. I approached my experiences as universal experiences that everyone recognized as their life. Six months after the book was published I realized I had more to learn: in-laws, sandwich generation, writing, over thirty-four years of journaling with selective excerpts, sixty-four lines of genealogy, laurels, my aging, and grandchildren. I knew I would have to write a sequel."And here it is, twenty-two years later. She has eliminated most of the metaphors. Some themes continue although homes, clothes and make-up have changed. But her persona has remained the same.
Nancy says, "My ancestors gave me gifts. I read that my great-great grandmother (born 1812 in South Carolina) rode to Texas in a carriage with silver trimmings after her husband had died on their Jackson, Mississippi plantation. And I also found out, after reading my mother's journals that she was voted unanimously the Queen of the May Pageant at Texas Christian University in 1928. Her journals of her European trip also provided insight into her relationship with my father.
These readings took on a life of their own as I used my years of notes, teenage diaries, and journals to form this gift to my descendants in this book. I hope you enjoy it."