I remember the first time I received a letter from Eugenia Price. I could not believe that I was holding her personal written words in my hand. I have the few letters she wrote to me and even the one that she wrote to a friend concerning a project that I was doing. She was always so positive and encouraging. “You have the ability,” she would say. “Just do it.”

I think she coined that phase before Nike made it cool. Her writing schedule was always packed, but she personally took time to answer her mail. I don’t know how many authors think about doing that today. It wasn’t until later in life that she began to dictate notes of personal correspondence to her assistant. A small historical collection from her house is on display in the lighthouse on St. Simons Island. This is her desk—the one she sat at and wrote all of her novels.

This photo was taken in the front yard of her home—the Dodge, which is appropriately named after the lead character (Anson Dodge) in her Lighthouse trilogy. He was the “Beloved Invader.” I doubt seriously that I will ever return. It is on the market to be sold. And it no longer fits who she was because it is vacant and empty and void of laughter.

And this is her old manual typewriter that she used up until her death on May 28, 1996. She wrote, “I long to depart this earth banging away on my old manual typewriter.” I think she pretty much did just that.

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