Colleen Gerwing | Bruce Hornidge | Debbie Quigley | Lori Windows | T.D. Zummack
Colleen Gerwing
Colleen Gerwing grew up on the family farm near Lake Lenore, Saskatchewan, a creative and adventurous child with a wonderful imagination. She was Annie Oakley; she was an NHL hockey player; she trained crows and told scary stories.
Her first job at Waskesiu began a life-long love of Prince Albert National Park. She studied recreation technology at Kelsey Institute of Technology in Saskatoon and worked in Rosetown and Hafford and then at the Saskatoon Boys and Girls Club for some years.
In 1977, she attended the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming. She worked as a guide at Algonquin Park, and in the 1970s, she had a small company called Wilderness Trips for Women. Canoeing, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, winter camping—she loved being out in the natural world, often by herself.
Colleen began her work with Parks Canada at Fort Walsh near Cypress Hills and at Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, but mostly worked at her favourite place, Prince Albert National Park. Grey Owl, the naturalist, was one of her heroes for all his flaws, and she became friends with his wife, Anahareo, and their daughter, Dawn.
In winter, Colleen studied French in Quebec or German in Germany and Cree in Saskatoon. She was a wonderful painter and favoured painting paddles and rocks as well as canvases.
Although Colleen survived her first bout with cancer, it came roaring back and took her quickly. She died peacefully at home on April 20, 2021, at the age of 58, after finishing her novel, The School of The Haunted River, which was inspired by her many years of outdoor adventure.
Colleen leaves behind her partner of twenty-six years, MaryAnn Roettger, whom she loved with all her heart. They shared a love of nature, travelled to many interesting places, and joy in all the small pleasures of life. She also leaves her mother, Julie; her sisters, Connie, Vicki, and Jacki; her brothers, Jim and Ted; and many nieces and nephews who will remember winter camping trips, canoe trips, and Christmas and Hallowe’en displays by the Auntie with bells on.
Bruce Hornidge
Bruce Edward Hornidge was born in 1948 in Belleville, Ontario. An Air Force brat, he grew up where his father was stationed in Gimli, Manitoba, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After finishing school in 1967, he joined his brother Brian at MacMillan Bloedel’s Kennedy Lake logging division at Ucluelet on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. He was married on a very unusual snowy day in March of 1973 and, with his wife, Minnie, raised two boys and a girl. He felled trees for twenty-six years. After losing his job in 1997, he became a security guard in Campbell River, Vancouver, and Vanderhoof, BC. Bruce and his wife, now the Rev. Minnie Hornidge, live in Glen Williams, Ontario. There, Bruce gardens and knits. And writes.
Debbie Quigley
Debbie Quigley, author of Wounded Hearts Take A Chance, was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. She is also the author of the poetry collection Wind Whispers. A retired healthcare worker, she lives in a small hamlet surrounded by nature and wildlife. She loves to garden. Debbie’s “whisper-art” poetry is simple and real, telling a story. She has contributed to Spiritual Writers Network publications, and her poetry can also be found on Author’s Den.
Lori Windows
Lori Windows grew up enamoured of the writings of Grey, Brand, Terhune, London, Burroughs, and Farley. Her father set her on a horse when she was two years old, and she has now ridden horses on six continents.
In 1982, she discovered the sport of distance racing. She and her variety of horses and mules have amassed multiple national titles and more than 63,000 sanctioned race miles.
T.D. Zummack
The Brand of Brotherhood is the second novel for T.D. Zummack, who is also the author of the thriller Amazing Grace. He is a member of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild and spent his adolescence reading authors such as Agatha Christie and Louis L’ Amour and his adulthood reading true crime. You can find any and all author-related information at his website, tdzummack.com, as well as short stories he’s written on the platform page vocal.media/authors/t-d-zummack. He is a true crime and mystery nerd and when not writing can be found lounging around his house with his family and their pets
