From Roots to Roses: The Autobiography of Tilda Kemplen

Tilda Kemplen--known as the ``Mother Teresa of the coal country''--celebrates the root system she put down as a young woman in the mountain hollows of Tennessee. In a narrative that unfolds in unadorned, reflective prose, recorded over the years by freelance editor Herzberg, she tells the inspiring story of a life of service. Founder and director of Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers, Kemplen describes the unlikely beginnings of her extraordinary career. A teacher despite the great odds against becoming one--without a high school education, she entered college at age 32--this wife and mother saw the needs of the ill-served people of her community. She recalls the years of struggle and hardship to establish special-education, child-welfare and medical-care programs that were in place by the '70s. Kempen, who lives in rural Campbell County, eloquently appreciates her natural surroundings, her feelings of kinship with Native American culture and her oneness with the beloved mountains. Photos. (July)