NCYM Biographies — Published!

Billy Britt debuted his latest book, Giants in the Land, at North Carolina Yearly Meeting.

The 17 biographies tell of NCYM leaders — the first one born in 1846 and the last one who passed in 2006. One of them, Isaac Harris, was pastor at my meeting for 30 years, a great influence when I was a little girl.

It's good to preserve these stories of dedicated Quaker servants. But it's the story of this book that excites me.

Billy Britt signs a book for fellow author and Pub Board member Jack Ciancio.

We'd been working on it for several years ("we" being the author and the NCYM Publications Board). I don't know when Billy started his research. I helped edit the manuscript in 2009. About 2010, everything got put on hold when Billy had a heart attack.

Thankfully, he recovered, and we gradually got back to work. All the editors, proofreaders, and even the author are volunteers. (When you see the price of the book, you won't think so. But we're a small independent press and it has photos in it, hence the amount.)

Billy happily signed books and joked around before Saturday night's worship session at yearly meeting.

We all hope somebody writes a sequel with Billy in it. He knew many of the people in his book. And he was superintendent of NCYM for 20 years. Because he's served as interim pastor at several meetings since "retirement," it's a running joke that he's pastored everywhere and knows everybody. He has a mischievous sense of humor and a heart for connecting people with Christ.