I began a writing career after I left the University of California’s Human Resources function in 2013. My background spans over 50 years in Human Resources, first with Ford Motor Company Ltd. (UK), then with Bank of America with whom I spent 22 years, followed by leading the staff Human Resources function for Stanford University and afterwards in the Office of the President at the University of California.
I wanted to retain an agile mind and use my writing skills to develop my creativity. A few years before leaving the University of California, my mother shared with me a shocking story when she explained how I had been conceived during an unwelcome encounter a few weeks before D-day during World War 11, an event she said that would be considered “rape” in modern-day jargon, and that she had suffered greatly to give me life. Perseverance had eventually allowed her happiness and contentment, and she was proud of the outcome. Even so, she remained ashamed of what had happened and asked me not to investigate while she was alive. She died in late 2008, and I began my research.
What I discovered led to the writing of An Unplanned Encounter, a novel written out of passion and appreciation for my mother’s sacrifice. Although fictionalized, I chose to publish it using the author pseudonym of Jonathan R. Husband.
I have now proceeded to write further stories that showcase the determination and courage of others. Most recently, I published a true story about Nazi anti-Semitism and its affect on a Jewish family living in Berlin during the 1930s (Abandoned in Berlin), and currently I am preparing a novel that combines a coming-of-age story of two ordinary people with the backcloth of events in Britain during the 1960s and 1970s and my lifelong hobby of birding (She Wore a Yellow Dress).
I grew up on a farm near York, England, attended Upper Poppleton Primary school, then Nunthorpe Grammar, and was accepted as an undergraduate by the University of Hull.
During 1966, I was awarded an honors degree in Geology and Geography, and chose to join Ford Motor Company in Brentwood as a graduate trainee, rather than pursue the alternatives I was offered.
I and my family moved permanently to the Bay Area in 1990, and subsequently became U.S. citizens. Both my daughter and son are married, and have their own children. I have a wonderful sister living in York on my mother’s side, and in recent years, have fallen in love a newly-discovered sister living in Shropshire on my father’s side. I regard myself as very fortunate.
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