Category: Literature

Born: 1938 Ohio connection: Birth Akron John Wesley Dean III was born in 1938 to John (a businessman) and Sara Dean in Akron, Ohio. Dean grew up in Marion, Ohio. He attended Staunton Military Academy, Colgate University, 1957-59; and earned a B.A. from the College of Wooster in 1961. He did graduate study at American …

Born: 1952 Ohio connection: Birth Cincinnati Author, screenwriter, Michael Cunningham was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cunningham grew up in Cincinnati and La Canada, California. He was educated at Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature in 1975. He then went on to earn an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in …

Born: 1946 Ohio connection: Birth Dayton Chris Crutcher was born in Dayton, Ohio but didn’t stay there long. His father John (Crutch) had decided to leave his United States Air Force career (after piloting more than 30 successful B-17 bombing missions in World War II). At only six weeks old Chris and his older brother …

Born: October 26, 1946Died: May 22, 2020 Ohio connection: Birth Mount Vernon Robb Reavill Forman was born in 1946 in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the daughter of Dr. Oliver Duane (a neurosurgeon) and Helen (neé Ransom) Forman. In 1950, she moved with her family to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but she did not lose her connection to Ohio. Robb Forman …

Born: 1958 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus Tracey E. Dils was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Lawrence Albert (a physician) and Grace (a homemaker; maiden name, Shaffer) Dils. She was raised in Granville and earned her B.A. at College of Wooster in 1980.  As a teenager she won a national short story contest.  Later, a …

Born: 1930 Ohio connection: Resident Athens Wayne Dodd, son of Homer D. and Maggie M. (Potts) Dodd, was born in 1930 in Clarita, Oklahoma. Dodd served in the United States Navy on submarines from 1948 to 1952 and was part of an elite group logging over a thousand dives. According to Dodd, his submarine was the …

Born: 1962 Ohio connection: Former Resident Athens Elizabeth Caroline Dodd was born in March 20, 1962 in Boulder, Colorado. She was raised in southeast Ohio having moved to Athens in 1968 when her father, Wayne Dodd accepted a teaching position at Ohio University. Dodd graduated summa cum laude from Ohio University in 1983, with a double major …

Born: 1954 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Lynda was born to Oliver, an engineer, and Shirley (Peterson), a teacher, in 1954, in Cleveland, Ohio.  She received her Bachelor’s degree (1979) and her Master’s degree (1982) from the University of Washington, Seattle.  She married business executive Wesley Lemmon in 1989 they have one son.  Durrant has penned historical young …

Born: 1940 Ohio connection: Resident Kent Zee Edgell was born Zelma Inez Tucker in Belize City, British Honduras (now Belize) on October 21, 1940.  She is the oldest child of Clive Tucker, an import-export worker and Veronica Walker Tucker a homemaker and poet.  Edgell and her siblings were raised in during the country’s difficult economic times …

Born: 1932 Ohio connection: Birth East Liverpool The daughter of William Jack, Jr., and Helen Margaret (Willis) Curry, Jane Louise Curry was born and raised in East Liverpool, Ohio (the location of her novel for young people, The Lotus Cup). She grew up in a “family compound”, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all living close …