Gina Beth Clark, also known as Virginia Elizabeth Clark, has readers who find her work......absolutely delightful. She writes historical novels that give rich, soul filling rewards. Her philosophy: The past becomes history so quickly, that the only way to enjoy it is through the printed word. She is a WWII veteran, a writer and traveler who resides in the foothills of the Ozarks. Being one of the early residents in a retirement village, she has felt like an settler herself, seeing the area grow and prosper through the years. She has two sons and enjoys being near her three granddaughters, one grandson, and three great granddaughters. A writer all of her life, she returned to college to renew her loyalty to the classics and has obtained many awards for her poetry, short stories and articles.  She is a member of  the Spring River Branch of the Pen Women's Club

 

Born in a small town in the middle of the State of Wisconsin into a community made up entirely of people of Czech nationality, she learned the language as a child. Going to a small country school, she soon learned to speak and write English and almost immediately started writing stories and poetry. Gina Beth loved to listen to the stories told by her elders and would remember many of them years later. Thus "Sylva's Pursuit" a story about the difficulties suffered by a Czech girl in that country during WWII. The obvious confinement of many of her relatives that could still be held in that country is what prompted her to join the Women's Army Corps in 1944. The 56 WAC Hospital Corps was based in Battle Creek, Michigan to help take care of returning disabled veterans from the European Theatre of operations. It had been disbanded after the war, but has been one constant reminder to her of the horrors of war ever since.

 

As any author will tell you, part of themselves or their lives do show up in the fiction that they write. Her parents really homesteaded near Lewistown, Montana. This is what prompted and helped in her writing the novel "Montana Moon Lady". The book "Curse Of The Ruby Rood" had been researched during many winters spent on Galveston Island, Texas where the author still found evidence of what she wrote about of Jean LaFitte and the Karankawa Indians who once inhabited that island.

 

Although writing all of her life, she began to become very serious about it and returned to college in the mid 1950's, taking up literature, psychology and every subject she could to help her in her writing. After traveling through Europe and most of the United States with her husband, she settled down and began writing every day. Her husband became her editor and not only helped in her research but accompanied her to book signings and Writer's Conferences. Being a disabled veteran with a career in the USAF, he then became a Catholic Deacon and it was through his work that many moral issues have been introduced into her writing. After a long illness, he died October 31, 2002.

Her daily blog of comments and writings can be found here.