Judith T. Witmer

Dr. Judith Thompson Witmer is a talented writer with a wide range of interests, all revealing her passion for social history. She holds a B.A. in English Literature, an M.S. in Humanities, and a Doctorate in Administration, as well as post-doctoral credits in Ethics from Harvard University.

"It’s the Berries: Life as a Co-Ed in the Roaring Twenties" presents life as offered to favored youth of the 1920s, “...like a bowl of cherries, just there for the taking—especially if you were a seventeen-year-old co-ed whose parents had the means to send you to the big city of Philadelphia, only a train ride away from the cosseted life of Curwensville, Pennsylvania.”

Dr. Witmer’s biographies began with Dr. Rodrigue Mortel ("I Am from Haiti"), world-renown physician and philanthropist, who dedicated his resources to building and supporting a school where it is most needed, in Haiti.

"Jebbie: Vamp to Victim" reveals the author’s struggles to save her aunt from a crafty manipulator, a member of their own family. "All the Gentlemen Callers: Letters Found in a 1920s Steamer Trunk" is a companion publication to "Jebbie" in the form of 100 narrated love letters from Jebbie’s many suitors, offering a firsthand account of life in a gentler time.

"Growing up Silent in the 1950s" is an investigation of the factors that created the Silent Generation, a generation not often heard from, yet is one that history has shown to be exceptionally responsible and productive. The account is enlivened by personal reflections from members of this generation through diaries, scrapbooks, interviews, and memoirs.

"Loyal Hearts Proclaim" is the history—the first of its kind—of a high school that began with mostly young teachers…building the foundation for greatness and expansion of Lower Dauphin High School, unusual in its support of faculty offering innovative courses and approaches to teaching and learning. "Loyal Hearts" is the only published chronicle of a high school’s everything.

Based on letters written by a young soldier during World War II, "A Son’s Letters to His Father" is compelling reading. These letters are masterfully narrated in the context of this period of history, so that the reader is immersed in war in the Philippines as it was happening.

"The English Students of B-1" describe themselves as “…the generation who grew up with television. We grieved the death of President Kennedy. We were raised to have opinions and we let them be known. We had the draft with its lottery numbers; we fell in love, drove too fast, and danced the night away—yet had our school work ready for the next day. We discovered that B-1 was a different universe, a place to return to in order to get one’s balance and then begin again; a place of primary concern for school work like studying, exams, and grades; where the training of our minds was implicit and where academic rigor was demanded; where human kindness and mutual respect flourished.”

The author’s earlier books include the first handbook written for women in educational administration ("Moving Up"). This was followed by a book on Service Learning and one on team-based Professional Development when these education movements first immerged.

Dr. Witmer also provides professional services to others who are looking for additional guidance in polishing and publishing their manuscripts. www.yesteryearpublishing.org