About the Author and Illustrator Sherry Newsome Purdom and Wendy Susan Lovett's western Kentucky lineage and friendship traces back to childhood. Attending primary school and church together in Murray, Ky., the two befriended each other and have remained life-long friends. From church camps, cruising the court square, and learning the fresh-garden cooking recipes from their ancestors, to completing college later in life as non-traditional students at Murray State University, thy grew up cleaving strongly to their hillbilly roots. They each claim those roots provided them with the magic they feel in their hearts about the south and their Kentucky hometown. The year 2004 was pivotal for both as their 40th birthday's approached. Lovett's 40th birthday was spent undergoing a partial mastectomy, with the news she would need to undergo chemotherapy treatment as a precautionary measure following surgery. They each decided that if a book were to be written and illustrated, it would be their own birthday present to themselves. As the two joined thoughts and dreams from their childhood, they decided to pursue writing and illustrating "Aunt Jessie's Magic Ketchup." Lovett, a single parent of one son, who is currently completing her master's degree in speech language pathology at MSU, has a gift for sketching and drawing. Purdom, a wife and mother of two daughters, works at MSU as a media and special events coordinator and a feature writer at MSU. She has written fictional stories since a student at Murray High School. With the "40 project" finally complete, they each agreed, "writing this book has been the best therapy." Their frequent conversations have allowed them opportunities to reminisce and share stories that have proven to them that the stories of those gone contain life's most precious memories and it is rewarding making those stories and people come alive through fiction.