Jeanette Reese

It Wasn’t Supposed to End This Way is a love story. After caring for two husbands and her mother for 22 years, Reese spent the next five years documenting her relationship with and the passing of her second husband, the love of her life, and her always-loving mother—both of whom were dying at the same time. Once the pain of loss began to lift, Reese set out to rediscover her new purpose in life. She writes a love story while showing the reader a path out of grief.

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Michael G. Vail

Michael Vail was born at Fullerton General Hospital—the same hospital where his father was born. He graduated from Fullerton College and Cal State Fullerton and has lived in the OC his entire life. He is the author of The Salvation of San Juan Cajon, a novel about a North Orange County school district’s desperate struggle to construct a new high school and High Desert Elegy: Stories & Poems, which combines several romantic themes, conflicts, and adventurous moments. You can read about both books on Amazon.

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Florine J. Miller

Author Florine Miller, while attending OLLI at CSUF, was encouraged to write this novel over five years of extensive research. Florine was raised and worked in Southern California. She is a graduate of CSUF. She retired from nursing and now spends her time writing. Stand and Shout Quietly is a fact-based novel about the author’s Great Aunt, Dr. Evelyn Gentry Hooker—the psychologist credited with bringing legitimacy to the homosexual population in the 1950s, following her research and publication of The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual. In 1938, Hooker left teaching at Whittier College and studied at Goering University, Berlin. Returning to the USA, she taught at UCLA, where a student encouraged her to study “People like me.” Hooker continued her lifelong support of what became known as LGBTQ.

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Fritz von Coelln

Charlie’s Challenge is a “true” story. A Polar Bear came into our camp the night that we arrived in Hudson Bay. He was pacing along the coastline of the bay, waiting for the water to freeze so he could go out and hunt seals for dinner. He was hungry. We named him “Francis,” and he stayed for several days, taking catnaps, walking around our trailers, and sniffing the smells of bacon and eggs, hamburgers, and humans. Late one afternoon, Charlie, a second bear, intruded; this is their story as told by Francis (if he could talk). Fritz von Coelln wrote this story that includes photographs by his wife, Cindy, while visiting Churchill, Canada. Fritz and Cindy are long-time residents of Fullerton and attend OLLI at CSUF.

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Ann Casas aka Jennie Lance

Ann Casas, aka Jennie Lance, writes to satisfy that creative muse that won’t stay quiet when present yet remains elusive until challenged by the author’s life experiences. She writes memoirs, children’s stories, poetry, and books that are a product of her personal journey, and she enjoys sharing what she has encountered and learned. A former educator, her stories, poems, and short novels have been published on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She lives in Southern CA with her husband, Steve, and son, Zachary.

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Larry R. Macklin

A member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at CSUF has been involved with writing classes at OLLI for several years now. He is the author of a novel trilogy: Sister Mercy, a Catholic nun crime romance novel, Heartstead, and, finally, Reclamation. The stories revolve around the people that Sister Mercy meets and interacts with and the experiences that lead to who she ultimately becomes. Her friends and family prove to be the anchor in a world that presents her with a maelstrom of violence and despair. All three novels are available in paperback and Kindle e-book on Amazon.

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Ron Baesler

Ron Baesler spent eleven years living and working in Brazil. He met a remarkable, courageous woman who, despite poverty, abuse, and tragedy, brought light and hope into her community. Ron wrote Francisca’s Destiny: A Brazilian Story to honor the legacy of this woman and to draw attention to the plight of so many women who suffer in difficult relationships. The book traces her life as a sharecropper’s daughter, a youngster coping with the turmoil of the urban favelas (slums), and a young mother in an increasingly precarious marriage. Her personal strength and spiritual resources enable her to accomplish the near impossible. This book is one of six books Ron has written since 2014 when he joined Cal State Fullerton’s Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI) as a participant and a teacher.