Mary Lou Williams, M. Ed., is a retired teacher and a professional storyteller. She holds a masters degree in education from Columbia University and has spent 35 years as an educator of English and mathematics on the secondary level. She has served on the board of the Florida Storytellers Association from 2010 to 2014 and received their Distinguished Service Award for 2014. She has produced local storytelling workshops and storytelling performances featuring national tellers. She is a member of a quartet of storytellers that produce and perform storytelling showcases at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers and at Brambles English Tea Room in Naples. She conducts seminars and storytelling workshops at the Renaissance Academy of Florida Gulf Coast University. She is a member of the Tamiami Tale Tellers of Fort Myers.
Website: story-theatre.com
Would history repeat itself? “Look what happened to our British friends at Gallipoli. Of the first two hundred men that landed at Cape Helles, only twelve made the beach alive.” As early as 1919, Marine General “Howling Mad” Holland Smith knew the US would likely be involved in another World War against Japan. He feared that it was only a matter of time. His eyes turned to the Pacific islands as the most logical theatre of war. How, he wondered, could the Marines possibly land troops and keep them alive long enough to fight? In 1928, the killer Okeechobee Hurricane strikes Florida. Don Roebling, grandson of the builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, is determined to invent a rescue boat that can conquer the swamps, the flooding and the debris strewn terrain to save lives! Together, these two Americans will face nightmares of red tape, engineering challenges, corruption and personal set-backs to train and equip the US Marines for their greatest challenges of WWII, and shape world history.
