About the Author

Kathryn Burke quit school and married at age 15 at the start of the Great Depression. When her second husband died, she got a G.E.D. and started college at age 76. At 82 she graduated from Cal State Bakersfield with honors. At 88 she received her masters degree. She continued taking graduate classes and would have earned a Ph.D. if the history department at Cal State offered one. Buck Owens seldom had much to say to reporters, and always said the same thing, but he taked and talked to Kathryn Burke.