Born in Mankato, Minnesota, and brought up in five Midwestern states, I graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin as an English major, with teaching credentials in English, art, and chemistry. In my senior year, the Army War College asked me to enroll in a correspondence course in cryptanalysis. After graduation, I went to Washington and worked for four years in the Signal Intelligence Service, promoted to senior cryptanalyst.
My first husband was engaged by the USA Diplomatic Corps. He moved our family to Spain and Italy, where we spent seven years. When we were moved back to the United States, we settled in California, and later divorced amicably after raising four children. I joined the Rose Bowl Riders Club with my horse, Holiday, whereBorn in Mankato, Minnesota, and brought up in five Midwestern states, I graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin as an English major, with teaching credentials in English, art, and chemistry. In my senior year, the Army War College asked me to enroll in a correspondence course in cryptanalysis. After graduation, I went to Washington and worked for four years in the Signal Intelligence Service, promoted to senior cryptanalyst.
My first husband was engaged by the USA Diplomatic Corps. He moved our family to Spain and Italy, where we spent seven years. When we were moved back to the United States, we settled in California, and later divorced amicably after raising four children. I joined the Rose Bowl Riders Club with my horse, Holiday, where I met my second husband, William, who graduated from Stanford Medical School and was a physician. Between us we had six grown kids, five dogs, and three horses, but we made a loving family. This summer we will celebrate 35 years of happy married life. We are very proud parents and we now have twelve grandchildren.
Bill and I bought some land in southern California where we ran a summer horsemanship camp, teaching complete care of the horse and, eventually, Combined Training, the Olympic sport known as the "Test for the Military." We closed the camp the day that Bill's horse died. It was the end of an era for us.
My first book, A Guide for Parents of Horse-Crazy Kids, was published in 1990. The following year, I suffered a stroke which left my left side paralyzed. We sold the ranch and moved back to town, but I continued to write. In my rehabilitation sessions, I re-learned how to walk and how to type. My second book, A Horse Called Holiday, was published by Scholastic in 1992, and has been translated into Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, and German.
My third book, The Dog with Golden Eyes, was published in 1998 by Milkweed Editions, the winner of the 1998 Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature.
I belong to two writers' clubs, who are critiquing me as I work on my next book, The Horse Next Door.
**Frances Wilbur passed away on August 4, 2006, a champion of children's literature and reading....more
Sign in with Facebook
