William D. Walters, Jr. Grew up in Royal Oak Michigan. He holds a BA from Western Michigan University; MA and PhD in Geography from Indiana University. For thirty-two years he taught geography at Illinois State University in Normal Illinois and published extensively in the areas of historical geography, town founding, cultural landscapes and landscape preservation. About thirty years ago at the home of a friend he was shown the wartime letters of Zella Maude Judy. The letters captured his interest, but at that time no one seemed to know where Maude had come from or what had become of her after the war. After retirement he set out to try to answer these questions. Through a genealogy Internet site he made a connection with Erma Borchers, a native of Ford County, who was able to tell him something of Maude's ancestors and later life; she had known Maude's son David, and was able to put him in touch with Maude's grandson Vernon Beck. Since first reading the letters, he has felt that Maude's letters held a story that demanded telling and this web site is a response to that demand. He is in debt to the Archives at Illinois State University for transcribing the letters and to the McLean County Historical Society, Bloomington, Illinois, which preserves the letters as part of the larger Hibarger Collection.

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