Susan Ward Nally was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She graduated from John Overton High School in Nashville in 1965 and Western Kentucky University in 1969. She taught school in Kentucky and was a substitute teacher in the Williamson County school system. Nally has done contract work for the Tennessee Baptist Convention and Lifeway Christian Resources. She has tutored at the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home and has participated in several mission trips to Honduras. Nally lives in Brentwood.

• –How to Say Yes! To All the Best Choices (and Really Mean It), 1994
• –How to Stay Cool When Things Are Tough (and Really Like It), 1994
• –How to Feel Most Excellent! About Who You Are (and Really Enjoy It) (co-author), 1994

With a base formed by a literary family—parents who are poets and songwriters, Shawn-Michelle began writing almost naturally. Her childhood
and youth in Malibu, California, deeply shaped her sensibilities. Then she attended Belmont University in Nashville and majored in journalism. She
is the author, journalist and illustrator of more than 100 published works, including feature articles, record reviews, poetry compilations,
self-help and children's books. Nelson has written several books about the spiritual journey in which she strives to speak straight to the soul.
She founded her own publishing company, Mornin' Light Media, in 2004.

• –Hope, 2004

John T. Netterville Sr. was born in 1930 and attended David Lipscomb University, George Peabody College, Cornell University, the University of Mississippi, and Vanderbilt University. He was a science teacher in public and private schools and a chemistry professor at David Lipscomb University. From 1980 to 1984 he served as superintendent of the Williamson County School System. Later, he taught chemistry and physics at Brentwood High School and was a part-time guest professor at David Lipscomb before retirement.

• –World of Chemistry-Essentials, 1993
• –Laboratory Manual for World of Chemistry, 1991
• –World of Chemistry, 1991, 2nd ed. 1996
• –Chemistry, Impact on Society, 1988
• –Chemistry and the Environment, 1973
• –Laboratory Manual for Chemistry, Man, and Society, 1972
• –Chemistry, Man, and Society, 1972
• –Laboratory Manual for Chemistry, a Brief Introduction, 1970
• –Chemistry, a Brief Introduction, 1969

Born and reared in Memphis, Don Nix left high school in 1955 and spent the next 20 years as a blues and rock and roll musician. He has written and produced with Stack Records.  His autobiography includes recipes of some of the artists who were part of his life on the road. An amateur photographer, he has published two calendars featuring photographs of those musicians. He lived several years in Franklin before finding a remote farm farther south.

• –Road Stories and Recipes, 1997

Dorry Baird Norris, a native of Suffern, New York, used her degree from Cornell School of Home Economics to raise a family of five children, after which she became director of the Consumer Opportunity Program. In this capacity she became interested in using herbs as a means of developing better food and then in growing and cooking with herbs. She published Wine and Herbs in conjunction with the New York Cayuga Trail. She has published several pamphlets and a quarterly newsletter entitled Sage Advice. In 1993 she moved her extensive herb garden to Williamson County.

• –Sage Cottage Herb Garden Cookbook, 1995
• –Wine and Herbs, 1991

George Northern was the eleventh child of Thomas and Charlotte Berry Northern in the Grassland area of Williamson County. His mother's roots go back to the Berry's Chapel area. Much of his early career was served in the Williamson County school system where he was guidance counselor at Natchez High School for many years and then the first principal of Scales School. His interest in history has led him to teach, record, and create much of the important educational history of the county. As a lifelong member of Greater Pleasant View Baptist Church, he was naturally chosen to co-author its history.

• –From Whence We Came: The History of Greater Pleasant View Baptist Church. 1894-1999 (with Katie Kinnard White), 1999   

A native of Dallas, Texas, Ben Norwood studied at Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas where he had a double major in English and Portuguese and a minor in French. He also studied as a Gulbenkian Foundation Fellow at the University of Lisbon. His linguistic training has served him well in his work for American Airlines in International Security and International Flight Service.  His volume of poems includes one inspired by a spot he found while cycling in West Williamson County. The book contains poems written over his lifetime, many of which have been previously published.

• –Plenum, 1999

Barbara Nowak is a native of New Jersey and lived in Washington, D.C. and southern California before moving to Franklin. She received a bachelor's degree in political science from Beaver College in Glenside, Pennsylvania. She worked in public relations and as an independent special events consultant. Nowak became interested in cooking after her marriage to Paul, a lawyer and songwriter. She has written newspaper columns for the Tennessean, including a review of restaurants and a how-to for home sellers. With her sister, she has developed a weekly radio show, "Taste of Nashville...With the Saucy Sisters." She has also been a regular guest on many local and national radio and TV productions.

• –The Saucy Sisters Guide to Wine: What Every Girl Should Know Before She Uncorks, 2004
• –Insider's Guide to the Best Places to Eat in Nashville (with Beverly Wichman), 1997
• –Cook It Right! The Comprehensive Source for Substitutions, Equivalents and Cooking Tips, 1979

Sue Oden grew up in Oak Hill in Davidson County and was part of the first class of Belmont College. She and her husband, John, moved to their farm in Thompson's Station in 1970 and reared their two children near the place where John's ancestors had settled in 1813. Interested in family history since she was a teenager, Oden has researched her family and her neighbors' families for many years. To share her findings, she began writing a column for a local paper. She has also been actively involved in community projects. These two interests merged as she wrote and published History of Thompson's Station as a county Bicentennial project and as a fund-raiser for the community park. 

• –Hold Us Not Boastful: History of Thompson's Station, Tennessee, and Its People, 1997

A brief autobiography and more lengthy diary entries published in the Williamson County Historical Society Journal 2001 tell the story of Bethenia McLemore's childhood and teenage years in Franklin. She was part of a large family which took part in the town's activities—school, church, and visits to friends and relatives. Oden wrote a book of biographies of major men in the state.

• –Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1901

An internationally recognized cancer specialist, Dr. Oldham founded the Biological Therapy Institute in Franklin in 1984. Prior to founding BTI, he initiated the National Cancer Institute's Biological Response Modifier Program and established Vanderbilt University's Oncology Division. He is the author of three books and more than 400 scientific papers.

• –The Cure, 1991
• –Principles of Cancer Biotherapy, 1987, 2nd ed. 1991, 3rd ed. 1998
• –Bio-Ethics, 1992

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jennifer O'Neill moved with her family to Connecticut and New York where her stellar career began. Well known for her acting credits, Jennifer is also an accomplished author. With a broad range of successes in modeling, movies, and TV, Jennifer had ample material for her life story which launched her writing career. While living in Williamson County, she began Jennifer O'Neill Ministries which has prompted many speaking engagements. She continues to live in the Nashville area where she raises, trains, and shows champion jumping horses.

• –A Winter of Wonders, 2007
• –A Late Spring Frost, 2007
• –A Fall Together, 2006
• –You're Not Alone, 2005
• –From Fallen to Forgiven, 2004
• –Surviving Myself, 1999

Suzannah O'Neill moved to Williamson County in 1952 and spent her adolescence in Franklin. She graduated from Vanderbilt University and Peabody College as a special education major. She served as a Pan-American flight attendant on military transport charters during the Vietnamese conflict. O'Neill married Franklin attorney Ed Silva and began to write.

• –Innismere, 1991
• –Return to Innismere, 1991

Born and reared in Muskegon, Michigan, Dr. Oosting received a B.A. at the University of Michigan, an M.A. at Central Michigan University, and a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. He was a teacher and administrator at several colleges and Academic Dean for ten years at Milligan College near Johnson City, Tennessee. He founded a consulting firm, which works with Christian colleges and universities around the country. In 1996 he helped establish Williamson Christian College of which he became president and professor.

• –Strategic Planning for Private Higher Education (with others), 1997
• –The Christian's Guide to Effective Personal Management, 1997, 2003

Jack O'Toole grew up in Michigan and worked for General Motors for nineteen years before joining Saturn in 1984. As part of the "Team of 99" who created the model for the Saturn Corporation, he traveled widely. He was vice president-at-large and a senior consultant for the company. He retired in 1996. O'Toole has written many articles for research journals.

• –Forming the Future: Lessons from the Saturn Corporation, 1996

Between 1935 and 1953, Jane Owen published 900 interviews of Williamson County residents. Her choices of person covered every geographical part and social element of the county. The publication of her work, now arranged in alphabetical order, is a great boon to Williamson County historians.  Jane Owen was born, educated, and lived her married life in Williamson County. She taught both elementary and high school, wrote for two newspapers—The Williamson County News and The Review-Appeal, and worked in the offices of the Franklin Funeral Home and Farm Bureau. With this rooted but varied experience, she depicted the citizens of the county with an appreciative and encompassing point of view.        

• –Who's Who in Williamson County: Volume 1, A-E,  (edited by Rick Warwick), 2003