Author: Chiggers L. Stokes
Title: Retired Park Ranger
Born: March 21, 1950
Bio: Chiggers Stokes was born in Rio de Janeiro on  March 21, 1950, the first day of fall in the southern hemisphere. A contrarious thread connects the events of his life and imbues his writing.  Raised in the woods of Langley, Virginia, the construction of the CIA and the National Park Service’s George Washington Memorial Parkway, were the first obstacles in the author’s childhood explorations of the natural world.  During the course of the author’s formative years, suburban sprawl would digest the undeveloped fields and forests  which typified the Potomac Valley in the ‘50’s and early ‘60’s.  

The author was influenced by the Society of Friends, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King in August of 1963, being eyewitness to the civil rights leader’s speech, “I have a dream...”  Later, in the 60’s the author read the names of Viet Nam war dead in front of the U.S. Capitol building and participated in “pray ins” in front of the White House.  

In the later ‘60’s, the author studied journalism at the University of Miami, Florida and New York University, Washington Square campus.  He reported on large and sometimes violent demonstrations through college radio stations and politically oriented newspaper.  In April of 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students of Kent State, killing four.  Universities across the United States closed down for the political climate to settle, and so ended the author’s formal education.

Chiggers Stokes was hired by the National Park Service as a Resource Educator and worked at the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historic Park for several years before becoming a River Safety Technician on the Potomac River.  He transferred to Olympic National Park in 1977 where he worked as a protection ranger until retiring on April 1, 2000.

Since 1978, the author has lived on a portion of the “Flying S ”  homestead, settled by German immigrant, Otto Siegfried, before the turn of the twentieth century.  In 1982, he electrified the property by a micro-hydroelectric scheme on Hemp Hill Creek and writes by the lights and power from this alternative energy project.

Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Two is the author’s first novel, which was written in 1991. Between Forks and Alpha Centauri is his second novel, written in 1997.