I was born in Schwenningen, Germany. After my fathers died in Stalingrad, Russia, my mother moved back to her hometown in Breitenfeld, Kreis Waldshut. She remarried and toke me with her to Grimmelshofen( Blackforest).
I became the oldest of 7 girls. After High School I moved to Mannheim Germany. There I meet my husband Jerry Wilbanks. He was a Soldier in the U.S, Army. We married in Mannheim. my first daughter was born in Heidelberg.
After 2 years we moved to Benton, Arkansas. There I had 2 more children, Donna Wilbanks and Scott Wilbanks. After the Children were teenagers we moved to Dallas, Texas. I worked at the Holiday Inn as manager for 14 years.
As my retirement came around I moved to Naples, Florida, later Cape Coral, Florida. My husband died in 2002, followed by my daughter Donna. Since I went to Africa 5 times for missionary work, I finally settled down to write books .My 5th book called Rise Brother Rise became a Bestseller in November 2004. That is why I ended up at the Gulf Coast Writers Meetings.
Visit her website at: http://mkwilbanks.com
Lorraine Walker Williams: Author of Split Poems, Fire in the Grass, Paradise Found and Near Water was nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice. She has received First Place Awards for her poetry from The National League of American Pen Women, Gulf Coast Writers, Sanibel Writers Conference, Artists Embassy International and numerous literary magazines. Lorraine has read at the Library of Congress and the Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco and NPR. Creator of ArtPoems and named Literary Artist of the Year, she writes “Poetry Place” for SantivaChronicle.com and teaches poetry at BIG ARTS, Sanibel.
Joan Heller Winokur graduated from Connecticut College as an art major and has been involved in the arts throughout her life. She discovered the joy of writing poetry in her mature years and it has been her passion ever since. Her poems have been published in numerous literary journals. In June, 2014, Aldrich Press published her chapbook, “The Sand Recognizes My Footprints.” It is available on Amazon.com.
