I sometimes think it may be easier for a Westerner to write about Chinese than for a Northerner to write about Virginians. My wife of 45 years, and the source of this story and its mysteries, is Virginia born and bred. I myself have lived in the Commonwealth a dozen years. Nonetheless, I approach my narrative with some hesitation. I cannot deny it; forever and a day I'll be a transplanted Northerner, never a true Virginian, and I fear there are those who will believe that because of my lack of authentic origins I also lack the credentials to chronicle the history of certain native Virginians I have come to know about.
