Friends, Neighbors and Folks Down the Road

This book features 58 fascinating people who are collectors, veterans, hobbyists, authors and, in their own way, unique. There also is a chapter by Jaime Cherundolo. The concept of "Friends, Neighbors and Folks Down the Road" is that fascinating people live just up the street, down the road and around the corner, but are often overlooked. In this book, they get their day in the spotlight. A sampling of the people featured include: Ted Stegura makes lighthouses and nautical art out of scraps and discarded building materials. Rich Humphreys, the Gnome Man, operates Gnome Countryside in Kirkwood, Pa., and uses it to teach about the environment. Jim Flood Sr. is founder of the Dover Post newspapers chain that reaches throughout Delmarva. Elbert Chance recently retired, after 50 years, as the University of Delaware football game announcer, Chuck Wehrle, WW II Coast Guard veteran, photographed the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach, Ray Russo, WWII Army Air Corp veteran, was involved in "The Last Mission" of World War II, Jay Lutz has collected more than 600 foul balls at Wilmington Blue Rocks baseball games, Wally Jones and the late Bill Lowe worked for years as Delaware River pilots, George Reynolds is an archaeologist, UFO expert and man of many talents, Archaeologist Ron Thomas was responsible for moving 3,300 forgotten bodies from a forgotten cemetery beneath a parking lot, Bob Trapani Jr., is in charge of an organization restoring lighthouses, Ron Whittington creates living history in the person of the late Judy Johnson, a member of the old Negro Baseball League and Baseball’s Hall of Fame, Joanna Alford discovered a letter signed by Thomas Jefferson worth $750,000—and Elkton historian Mike Dixon initially ignored her find. Bob and Jean Patterson collected 250,000 signatures and caused the U.S. Postal Service to issue the POW/MIA postage stamp, . . . and the list goes on with a few dozen more folks you will enjoy meeting.