Mondays — 9:00-11:00 a.m.
A beginning writer, April is learning the process to create stories using her world-wide background as a Foreign Service Junior. Her focus for twenty years included a home desktop design and publishing business. She designed and published a ministry newsletter with articles pertinent for the widowed when her life situation had her join their ranks.
Living in Pagosa Springs for the past seventeen years has brought her near to watch ten grandchildren grow up. Four have remained in the area and are parents to ten of the eleven great grandchildren that now bless her large family.
April plans to write a second family Creative Non-Fiction novel on her father’s life—a Kansas farm boy who became a career diplomat to Egypt, Columbia, Turkey, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and speaker of eight languages.
April's Current Works
Memoir: Bayou Roots, Legacy of a Louisiana Family
Short Story: Moving On
Devotion: The Waffle Iron
and short personal reflections shared at Writers' Group
The Single Swan
Kate Hanson strained to see her lane as heavy rain pelted the car. She felt her death grip on the steering wheel tighten all the muscles in her arms and back as she kept focused on the single white line on her right and the double yellow lines on her left. Lights from on-coming cars blinded her to possible deer or elk crossing the road. These fearful conditions kept her alert but worn out as deeper thoughts lingered.
If only Matt were with me on this trip instead of in heaven.
Bayou Roots
…We (my sister and I) sat overlooking Jackson Square and the passing tourists. “April, my interest in our family history is heightened by what I’ve seen today. What did you find in the old stuff in her basement when you came to move Mom to Virginia? You and I had only a brief time to open some of those letters together.”
“Well, the letters and my genealogy research verify our ancestors lived in Louisiana for about 213 years. Before 1800, the Knight family from Pennsylvania settled near Opelousas Post. To obtain land they swore allegiance to the King of Spain.”
April Adamson Holthaus
Author, Genealogist
…the many benefits of knowing your family history. “…despite any of their shortcomings or frailties, we nevertheless stand upon their shoulders to become whatever we are today. We see how one person’s life can affect the world around them and how they helped create the forces that shaped how we were raised and have a framework with which to build our own futures and lives.” by Samuel L. McCauley
April is a freelance writer, genealogist and networker. She has written for widow's magazines, local newspapers and to assist non-profit fundraising for the elderly and homeless. April spent 30 years in Marketing, Advertising, and Publication before discovering hundreds of family letters. Her first book published in 2018, Bayou Roots, a Legacy of a Louisiana Family, is a result of those letters written as a historical memoir. She enjoys historical Christian novels, memoirs and women's history.