J.C., as Johnson City is affectionately known by those who grew up there and still live there,was and is a small town. Barbara's family lived just outside the city limits in a stone house built by her uncle, who lived across the pasture. Also living across the pasture in another direction were her grandparents. Her childhood was easy and idyllic, and many times boring. Fewer than 1,000 people lived in the town.

Johnson City is home of Lyndon Baines Johnson, our 36th president. He grew up and lived in the area, and his Texas White House was in Stonewall, about 15 miles from Johnson City.

Townfolk showed their pride and support of this Texas president in quiet ways, such as volunteering as guest hosts for tours of LBJ's renovated boyhood home. Barbara was a volunteer, along with her sister and her mother.

In high school, encouraged by special teachers, Barbara decided she wanted to write for a living. She learned that writing for newspapers was one way to make a living, so that's what she set out to do.

Following in her sister's and LBJ's footsteps (and many others in Johnson City), she attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She majored in journalism and wrote for the campus paper, the University Star. It was an exciting place to be, as many interesting characters dropped by or even worked side-by-side with her in the Star newsroom.

She later was editor of the University Star for a semester and some of the friendships she made in the newsroom were strong enough to withstand the test of time and distance.

Her first "real" job was editing copy and writing headlines for the Waco Tribune-Herald. Two years later, realizing she wanted to do more, she and her husband Don, whom she met in Waco,moved to the small town of Luling, Texas, where she was the editor of the Luling Newsboy for one year. Don commuted from Luling to San Marcos, taking classes at Southwest Texas State University.

A year later Barbara and Don decided to move back to Waco. Barbara returned to the Waco Tribune-Herald, this time as a reporter and assistant city editor.

She left there in March 2002 to write full time. While she loves writing on a regular basis, she stays in contact with former co-workers and reads the newspaper daily.

Meanwhile, Johnson City is much changed from the days when Barbara and her sister grew up there. The blinking light on Highway 290 is now a full-fledged traffic signal, alleviating jams and making life easier and safer for both motorists and pedestrians.

A sprawling building that once was a showroom for new Fords now houses booths where people sell antiques and collectible items. Other shops have found a home in the old feed mill, where Barbara used to buy food pellets for the small herd of sheep she raised.

The library once sat on an upper floor in the old courthouse but now it has its own building across the street. The nearby jail bears a historical marker. And several homes have found a new life as bed-and-breakfast inns.

The small-town life that Barbara and her friends and family knew in Johnson City often shows up in her books, even as the town changes. While buildings are torn down or find new purpose, and people grow up and move away, the essential elements of a small town remain the same: They are places that, if you live there, everybody knows your name. And half the town probably knows something about you. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Write to Barbara on line: info@mudpiepress.com