Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Kathleen Erin Hogg was born on June 3, 1939 in Alexandria, Louisiana, USA. She was the youngest of eight children of Charles Wingrove Hogg, a disabled World War I veteran, and his wife, Gladys Coker. As a child, she devoured fairy tales, later she relished creating her own stories, and by age six was telling herself stories at night to help fall asleep. When she was only twelve, her father died suddenly, leaving her to be raised by her mother and older sisters. Kathleen would later remark that, "every single one of us had minds of our own even then; I was no exception. I suppose that carried over into my creations of heroines who weren't weak-willed." At the age of sixteen, Kathleen met twenty-one years old U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant Ross Eugene Woodiwiss at a dance for servicemen. They eloped a year later, and married on July 20, 1956. She continued in the school locally and graduated in 1957. In 1960, they had their first son Sean Alan, who was born in Alexandria. Her husband's military career led them to live in Japan, where they had their second and middle son, Dorren James in Tachikawa on August 8, 1962. Kathleen worked part-time as a fashion model for an American-owned modeling agency. She enjoyed fashion modeling, and later designing and creating many of her own gowns and costumes for numerous officer’s club functions that she attended with her husband. After thr…