Horace Dade Ashton (1883–1976) was a pioneering news photographer, cinematographer, explorer, writer, lecturer, scientist, botanist, diplomat, and artist, who recorded stories from his life when he was eighty-six years old. These stories form the basis of this book and were documented in articles discovered in family scrapbooks after his death.
Horace Ashton’s photographs appear in the Smithsonian Institution, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and other photography galleries and museums.
Marc Ashton was born in Washington, D.C. and arrived in Haiti as an infant, when his father, Horace Dade Ashton, became cultural attaché to the U.S. Embassy. Marc remained in Haiti most of his life, marrying, starting a family, founding numerous businesses, employing thousands of people, and treating all he knew with respect. He remained on his beloved island until the day after he was kidnapped and held for ransom by four armed thugs. Marc retired to Boca Raton, Florida, where he is active in the community and serves as president of his homeowners’ association.
Libby J. Atwater began her career as a Beverly Hills English teacher, after which she became an editor in the Los Angeles-area. For nearly 30 years, she has written other people’s stories, as a journalist and personal historian. Her work appears in numerous anthologies, and she has received awards for her writing, especially her 2013 memoir, What Lies Within. Born on the East Coast, she now lives on the central coast of Southern California.