FEATURED RESIDENT-JEANNIE EDDY- MAY 2009
Not many people out here in the little hamlet of New Dosey Township may be aware of it, but we have a published author among our midst. She is a quiet, gentle and talented woman who spends most of her time reading, writing, editing and playing with her grandchildren.
Jeannie Eddy was born in September, 1955, to William and Pat Nash in St. Paul. She has one sister and 2 brothers. Jeannie attended the local Polish parish elementary school- St. Abalbert’s and then continued her Catholic education at St. Agnes High School, graduating in 1973.
Upon high school graduation, she took a job as a secretary with the State of Minnesota and worked there for 5 years. She met the young man who would become her husband when he was the neighbor of her best high school friend. Jeannie and Don Eddyd were married in 1976. They lived in St. Paul for 3 years, then moved to Eagan, Minnesota..
Jeannie is mom to 2 sons- Nick and Jack. Nick at age 31 works for a CNC tool & dye company. He also heads up a program department for a company that specializes in medical devices. Jack at age 30 works as a realtor for Coldwell Banker Co. and as a partner in a recording company Wake the World Records, and as a waiter.
Jack is the dad of 2 sons- Tyler, 20 months, and Brody, 4 months. These children are the highlight of Jeannie’s life these days. Since they live in the Twin Cities, many trips are made to spend time with them.
Jeannie went back to work as a secretary for Independent School District 196 in Apple Valley and Eagan and worked there for 17 years. Then she took a job again with the State of Minnesota in the State Fire Marshall’s office. When Don retired from his job as a fire fighter, she quit her job and moved to Cloverton.
It was then that she began to pursue a lifelong ambition- that of writing. An avid and long time reader, it seemed a natural progression to try her hand at writing also.
To learn the craft, Jeannie joined 3 writer’s groups (1) the Lake Superior Writer’s Group in Duluth (2) the Northern Lights Writer’s Group in Forest Lake and (3) The Lake Havisu Writer’s Group in Arizona. She says she learned so much about writing from the other members of these clubs. Members would read and critique each other’s work. It was in one of these groups that she was encouraged to submit some of her short stories for publication.
She has had several stories published- both in print and on-line periodicals. FIFTY SOMETHING MAGAZINE, A LONG STORY SHORT MAGAZINE AND APOLLO’S LEAR MAGAZINE have all published some of Jeannies’s work.
While in Arizona, she was asked to teach at Book Fair Workship. With a class of 40 students, she taught the “Do’s & Don’ts of Getting Published in Short Fiction.”
During her early years in our township, Jeannie began writing a novel set in Superior, Wisconsin. Shortly after that, however, she took a position as an editor for and on-line magazine. She did this work for three years and found it to be an excellent experience. She had to “back burner” her novel while doing this job because she would have as many 500 short stories to read and edit in a quarter. She is now back to dedicating herself full-time to working on her novel.
Jeannie has also started her own on-line business. It is entitled the Superior Editing Service.
Being married to Don, reading, writing, traveling and spending time with the “little munchkins” all bring a lot of joy to Jeannie Eddy’s life. We enjoy having her in our community and are proud of her achievements.