Pennsylvania Game News - January 2021 - 45

not only the true nature of the wild, but
what dwells within the heart of the hunter. "
As Bob's writing matured and evolved,
he expanded his reach and shifted his
column's themes to weightier matters. A
renamed column - Penn's Woods Journal
- emerged.
" To test the waters a bit farther, I began
to introduce fiction stories, " Bob explained.
" This struck a chord with the readers and
the response was overwhelming. Dozens
of letters poured in from everywhere, from
sportsmen, teachers, overseas military
personnel, teens and college students, and
surprisingly, from nonhunters, many of
them the wives of hunters who saw hunting
expressed in a new light. I had no idea how
far and wide Game News reached. "
In addition to his two successive columns, Bob also was contributing to Game
News' long-running column Crossings.
So, from 1995 until 2006, Bob was writing, painting covers and illustrating for the
Game Commission and Game News. And
then, seemingly overnight, he was whisked
away to the Midwest to help design the
Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium, as well as the NRA National Museum
of Sporting Arms, both in Springfield, Mo.
Bob wouldn't return permanently to
his home in York County until late 2017.
Within months, he resumed painting Game
News covers and expressed an interest
in developing a new illustrated column,
Penn's Woods Passages, and broached
the idea of working with Game News to
publish his first book, which would bear
the same name.
The use of passages in the column
title, first and foremost, referred to his
new entries, which often focused on
problem-solving or finding a way through
something. But it also upheld the more
universal meaning of passage: an excerpt
from a larger work. And that work would
be Bob's canon of illustrated columns and
paintings.
JANUARY 2021	

Discussion of publishing Penn's Woods
Passages picked up in 2019, after nagging
physical issues in Bob's right arm and
shoulder eventually were diagnosed as
ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. As ALS
further impacted Bob, he lost motor skills
on his right side. And as COVID-19 made
its ascension, and Game News staff began
working mostly from home, plans to
produce the book in 2020 were solidified.
It all was a challenge.
" There were 95,000 words to be typed,
and many of the book's 260 illustrations
needed to be redone or created, " Bob said.
" In finding a way, I taught myself how to
type and draw left-handed. To my surprise,
there was no difference to the eye, except
that it took longer and my right hand, no
longer a part of this work, still seemed
eager to be involved. "
Technology became a publisher-author
interface. Through Apple's Facetime, traditional email and telephone calls, the book's
work was distributed and coordinated. At
no time from the start of the book through
its completion, did Game News staff and
Bob meet. The risk of Bob contracting
COVID-19 was too great to risk it.
This long-distance arrangement, however, never seemed to slow the book's
development. The goal was to edit, lay
out and assemble the lengthy book from
January through October, and Bob was
saddled with most of the early work and
remained comprehensively involved in
every phase of the book's development.
His enthusiasm and determination to make
this book were awe-inspiring. His resolve
to limit ALS's captivity of his motor functions is the stuff of legend, far surpassing
his huddled video-conferencing doctors'
most optimistic expectations.
" I easily put in more than 240 10-hour
days to meet the book's October deadline, "
Bob said. " But out of the gate, the challenge to succeed seemed monumental. "
Bob's wife Terry, however, made sure
45
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