Tamara Thayer

The passion and drive to tell my first story in "A Country Doctor Goes to War", happened after a chance discovery of pictures, letters, artifacts, and a war journal among my grandfather’s personal belongings inspired me to document my grandfather’s life story. I soon learned that he was like most veterans who returned from war, never speaking of their experiences and so their stories could be lost forever. This became much more than the biography of a doctor who served on the island of Tinian during WWII; it paints a vivid picture of facing the highs and lows of life with integrity. I was fortunate to win 11 book awards on this debut book and continue to enjoy public speaking on WWII and telling this story.

The obsession to solve the many mysteries and set the record straight on all the misinformation being told about my famous 4 x’s great grandmother, Barbara Fritchie, was the motivation to complete the investigation required in writing "The Mystery of Barbara Fritchie: a True Patriot". Many people remember reading the poem “Barbara Frietchie “ by John Greenleaf Whittier as part of our curriculum. When I wanted to show a classroom how I was related to her, I discovered that her Wikipedia page said she never had children and that her famous actions of defying Stonewall Jackson and his men had been debunked. I began ten years of research to prove or disprove her story and her link to my family tree one way or the other. Other mysteries surfaced during the research and also needed to be solved. This side of her story and the results of the investigation have never been told in any other publication before this book was launched in June, 2020 earning her three book awards.

The two books I’ve written so far are compelling stories that needed to be told and are both historical non-fiction written for the whole family to enjoy. I’m an enthusiastic public speaker on a variety of topics that are listed on my website, www.tamarathayerbooks.org and I can also be contacted on Facebook to give a presentation or to do a book signing.