Jack GannonJack Gannon is the son of the late Commander John H. Gannon, United States Navy Medical Service Corps, and the late Margaret O. Gannon, both of whom are interred at Beaufort National Cemetery, only 3 miles from where Jack lives. His parents raised hi on or near multiple naval bases across the country, from coast to coast and as far west as Kaneohe, Hawaii, from where he has his earliest memories. As a child, his favorite fictional character was Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, not his other identity of Superman! He was fascinated with the news staff in the comics...getting information of things happening before they made it into the newspaper, and that began a very early interest in print media and writing. While attending Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia he worked on the lower school newspaper The Bayonet and the academy yearbook, including one year when he wrote the dedication for the lower school's section of the book. His studies at Winthrop College (now University) in Rock Hill, SC, focused in communications with an emphasis on newspaper and television news. However, his career goal was tossed aside when his mother suffered a massive stroke a week before receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree. He elected to leave his media career behind and return home to help his father care for his mother, and worked a couple of local jobs before gaining a position in The Beaufort Gazette's circulation department as its mailroom supervisor in 1987. During the next fourteen years he worked his way to a front office position until the Gazette and its sister paper, The Island Packet, began merging operations. He was then transferred to the Packet's offices in Bluffton, SC, to manage the customer service staff handling subscribers' delivery needs for both papers. His newspaper career ended in 2011 and he started planning how to fill his days...when he was reunited with his Beaufort High School best friend Cyndi Williams-Barnier. During their school years, they talked about writing books together after they graduated college, but lost contact with each other after high school graduation. Thirty-two years later, after their first dinner together with their spouses, they got around to asking each other, "Where's that book you were going to write?" Both now retired, they immediately picked up where they left off and began writing those decades-old stories, and formed their own writing partnership, J&C Wordsmiths, LLC. Their stories are action/adventure/suspense and fantasy/paranormal, with this book adding the historical/autobiographical genre. He and Cyndi were picked up by PDMI Publishing LLC of Albertville, Alabama, only two years into their new writing career. He is also a member of the International Thriller Writers Association. Jack decided to medically-retire from his Lowcountry Santa position after twenty-three years, but felt that simply retiring after all that time wasn't very polite. He needed to say "thank you" to everyone who kept asking him to bring his Santa and North Pole Family to their events year after year, and the result is the memoir in your hands, "I WALKED IN SANTA'S BOOTS". When not writing, Jack prefers the tranquility of his Beaufort, South Carolina home with his wife, Mendy, and Pomeranian, Tasia. Read More Read Less