Reese Jackson Whitley was born on Aug 7th 1937 in MacDowell, WV. The family moved to Buchanan County in 1946 when his father was given the position of manager at a coal company store in Big Rock, VA. A year later he moved to Page, VA when his father was promoted to store manager for the Page operation of Page Pocahontas Coal Co.

        The move to Page found his family living in a home on Garden Creek, where he held summer jobs ranging from cleaning cars on a used car lot, to repairing roads/bridges for VDOT, to building sidewalks, and retaining walls that now line the road between Grundy and Royal City, Va.

        While living in Page, Reese attended a rural school for several years, he graduated from Garden High School in 1955 and Virginia Tech in 1959. He married Bonnie Day in 1964. They have three great children, who helped them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in Key West, FL.

        After graduating from Virginia Tech, Reese went to work in the Northern Virginia claims office of a major national insurance company. Over 36 years with this insurance company, Reese’s work took him to small towns and large cities in many states—and even a short stint in Puerto Rico.

        Exposure to people from many walks of life, from the early 1940s until his retirement from work on 1/1/1999, offered a bottomless well of interesting people—interesting incidents, and interesting material for stories.

        Reese began writing his book after shortly after retiring from his career in the insurance industry, but his preparation for writing the book began when he was old enough to watch and listen.
Reese and his wife retired to the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he’s still finding ‘kernels’ that could grow into a story.