Mary Frances was not looking for a job when she received a phone call one night from a friend who was a retired college professor. He referred to a conversation of some days earlier about their mutual ethnic group. Both had bemoaned the fact that, outside of their descendants, the contributions of the Czech-Moravians have gone mostly unnoticed in history. Chiding her for neglecting the extensive material left to her by her amateur-historian father, he encouraged her to write the story in a way the general public would enjoy. She protested she was not an author. He said, “I’ll help you get started.” And he did. Thus the idea for the novel Invitation to Cat Spring: From European Tyranny to Freedom to Civil War was born.
Her work required several years of research, study, workshops, a trip to the Czech Republic and interviews with scores of Texans whose ancestors came from Moravia/Bohemia. She rolled stories, legends, papers, letters, and traditions of many, many families into the experiences of two. She joined the Kerrville Writer’s Association and finally the Writers’ League of Texas, where her novel placed in the finals of the League’s Manuscript Contest. After a couple of name changes, editing, and much gnashing of teeth, Invitation, was finally completed. In early 2008 the book received the 2007 James T. Angell award. This award is give nationally to a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) who is judged by a national panel to have published the "first best book" for the preceeding year. This year the award was given at the meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in San Jose, CA.
Mary Frances feels that her story is the American Experience, told from a slightly different perspective, with little-known facts about the Civil War battles in Texas as a bonus. She hopes that, whatever your ancestry, you will enjoy this pioneer tale, experienced by so many who helped to form our nation.
Mary Frances and her husband live in Kerrville, Texas. They have two sons and five grandchildren - Scott, Spencer, Phillip, Luke and Lauren.