Barbara Anne Waite

Barbara Anne Waite grew up in San Diego, California, spending weekends at the family cabin on Palomar Mountain. Her summers also were often spent on Palomar with her grandmother Elsie Hayes Roberts. When Elsie died in 1987 (at almost 100 years of age) Barbara read the diaries and letters Elsie had saved. Barbara began making plans to compile this compelling love story of her Grandmother’s three years teaching in rural Arizona. During her life Elsie wrote for magazines and newspapers but none of those stories compared to the story revealed in the diaries. Barbara traveled to Arizona to interview former students who remembered their teacher Elsie from 75 years earlier. Research uncovered the meaning of cryptic notes from the diary and “Elsie- Arizona Teacher 1913-1916” was published weeks before the State of Arizona celebrated its centennial in 2012. That book, published 4 years ago has been voted on Goodreads as the #1 memoir “Old West in First-Person.” It has sold over 3,000 print copies and 5,000 e-books.

Many readers requested the rest of the story, the California years. On October 18th Barbara sold the first copies of “Elsie’s Mountain” at the Apple Festival on Palomar Mountain. (The apple trees, planted on Palomar in 1904 by Elsie’s father, still produce lovely apples.) Barbara crafted this memoir from the memories Elsie continued to write down while in her nineties, and from hand written notes on scraps of paper, diary entries, manuscripts, poetry, news articles and photos which Elsie had preserved in her cedar chest. The book includes vintage photos and vivid word pictures of life as it was over 100 years ago in Virginia, Long Beach, San Diego and on Elsie’s mountain, Palomar.

Elsie was a master storyteller and one friend described her (at age 97) as having a memory as sharp as an Ansel Adams photograph.

I have left her letters and diary in these books as she wrote them, editing out unrelated events. I used additional narrative from her cassette tapes, manuscripts, and newspaper accounts.

I hope you enjoy her memoirs as much as I have.

Barbara Anne Waite

"Elsie- Arizona Teacher 1913-16" -finalist in the New Mexico -Arizona Book Awards- Memoirs AZ 2012 .

Voted #1 in " The Old West in 1st Person" on Goodreads.