BOGART, Mary Hattan 1916-

PERSONAL: Born July 27, 1916, in Morristown, NJ; daughter of William Cary (a civil engineer) and Sara (a homemaker; maiden name, Stein) Hattan; married Frank L. Bogart (a naval officer), July 31, 1940 (deceased, 1993); children: Frank Jeffrey, Anne Clinton, Mark Alexander. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: University of Southern California, B.S., 1939; East Tennessee State University, B.A., 1970; attended Shorter College and University of South Carolina. Politics: Republican. Religion: Presbyterian. Hobbies and other interests: Music, art, education.

ADDRESSES: Home—615 New Ave., Erwin, TN37650. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Church organist and minister of music, 1953-75; Unicoi County High School, Erwin, TN, choral director and teacher, 1974-75; writer. Erwin Art League, president. Initiated countywide "care and share" program.

MEMBER: National League of American Pen Women (president), Christian Writers Guild, American Guild of Organists, Presbyterian Women's Association (president), TROA Wives Club, United Presbyterian Women.

AWARDS, HONORS: Creative writing award, Blue Ridge Christian Writer's Conference, 1985; Mildred Boynston Honor Award, National League of American Pen Women, 1989, for inspirational article; named Pen Woman of the Year, Tennessee Association, National League of American Pen Women, 2000-01, for Conquering the Appalachians; five additional awards.

WRITINGS:

One Hundred Years of Service (church history), Intermountain Press (Salt Lake City, UT), 1991.

(With husband, Frank Bogart) Till War Do Us Part (memoir), Southfarm Press (Middletown, CT), 1995.

Conquering the Appalachians: Building the Western Maryland and Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroads through the Appalachian Mountains; Taken from the Journals, Records, and Photographs of William C. Hattan, a Civil Engineer Who Build Much of It, Railroad Research Publications (Rochester, NY), 2000.

Work represented in anthologies, including Frost in Spring, Wyndham Hall Press (Lima, OH), 1989; Edna St. Vincent Millay, Bristol Banner Books, 1992; and In the West of Ireland, Enright House, 1994. Author of weekly opinion column for Jonesborough Herald Express, 1982-83. Contributor of poems and articles to magazines and newspapers, including Commonwealth of Virginia and Guideposts.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Captain's Inheritance, a Civil War novel; Release of Angels, on creativity; Golden Gate, for children; Pearls of Wisdom, a poetry collection.

SIDELIGHTS: Mary Hattan Bogart once told CA: "I didn't start writing professionally until about 1980, when I came upon some interesting material in a family trunk when I was cleaning out my attic upon the death of my mother. I found the daily journals of my father, who died in 1929. They were from the years 1905 through 1918. Along with the journals were about 250 marvelous photographs of the construction of two unique railroads: the Clinchfield and the Western Maryland, which are now a part of the CSX system. My father was responsible for the building of four extensions on these two roads, which were built through almost solid rock in the days when they had nothing but dynamite and mules and pickaxes. I felt the material needed to be preserved as history. I started research on these two roads in 1970, and Conquering the Appalachians was published in 2000.

"The book Till War Do Us Part was published on the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II. I wrote it with my husband, who died before the book was published. It is the story of a newlywed couple caught in the middle of the war. I wrote it so our four grandsons would know what we experienced at that time.

"My novel The Captain's Inheritance is the fictionalized story of my two grandfathers, who served in the Stonewall Jackson Brigade in the Civil War. I had their army records, which served as a background for a story of trying times. I think my motivation for writing it is a desire to preserve some of my family history in a way that will be interesting for my grandsons.

"I am also writing The Release of Angels. This is different from the other books in that it is not history. In the book I attempt to explain the feelings of agony and ecstasy that happen in the production of a work of art—in any category. The agony is the idea that is born within and needs to be expressed in some form. When it is finally released, there is an ecstatic feeling like that of letting go an angel that has been tormenting you to let it out."

Bogart more recently added: "The Golden Gate is the story of a little girl's journey through Europe and her many experiences following World War II, when Europe was in shambles. She has an imaginary angel who seems to appear just when a crisis arises. The girl is traveling with her parents and two brothers. On her return to the United States the ship she is on heads into a seven-day hurricane. In the end she is led away through a golden gate into a beautiful garden where there are many children. She is led by the angel to her home in heaven. This is based on the true story of my daughter, who died aboard ship on our way home to the States after a two-year tour of duty with the United States Navy in Europe. She was seven years old. I feel this is a story of hope for children and/or parents who have lost someone."