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Frank Waters (1902-1995) was a Colorado Springs-born American writer. He is known both for his novels about the American Southwest and for the Frank Waters Foundation, which strives to foster literary and artistic achievement in the Southwest United States. Waters has become known as the "grandfather of Southwestern literature".

Biography

Frank Waters was born on July 25, 1902 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to May Ione Dozier Waters and Frank Jonathon Waters. His father's, who was part Cheyenne Indian, was a key influence in Water's interest in the Native American experience. Frank Jonathan Waters exposed his son to Indian culture by taking him to the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico in 1911. This influence was heightened by the fact that his father died on December 20, 1914, when young Frank was twelve years old. In 1916, Waters' first published work, "How It Was Settled," appeared in his grade school literary magazine, Columbia Sayings and Doings.
Waters continued his education at Columbia College in Colorado Springs. He studied engineering but left school before receiving a degree. Immediately after leaving Columbia, Waters took a job with the Southern California Telephone Company in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. He remained employed by the company until 1935 as an engineer and traffic chief. Between 1925 and 1935, Waters consistently completed novels, beginning with his first, Fever Pitch, in 1927. Beginning in 1936, Waters moved in quick succession from L.A., to Hollywood, then back and forth between Colorado and various places in New Mexico. When World War II broke out, Waters moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Office of Inter-American Affairs. There, he performed the duties of a propaganda analyst and chief content officer and, although her was released from the army in 1943, he continued to work for the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.
While living in D.C. in 1944, Waters married Lois Mosely, whom he divorced two years later in 1946. After his divorce, Waters moved to Taos, New Mexico, where he continued to write. In 1947, Waters purchased property at Aroyo Seco and married Jane Somervell, marking his first move towards settling down and calling one place his home since Colorado Springs. He served as editor-in-chief of Taos' bilingual newspaper, El Crepusculo from 1949-1951, and as a reviewer for the Saturday Review of Literature from 1950-1956. In 1953, Waters was awarded the Taos Artists Award for Notable Achievement in the Art of Writing. Waters also held positions as information consultant for Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico, and for the City of Las Vegas, Nevada, (1952-1956). He held a variety of other jobs, including writer for C.O. Whitney Motion Picture Co., Los Angeles (1957), writer-in-residence, Colorado State University, Fort Collins (1966); and director, New Mexico Arts Commission, Santa Fe, (1966-68).

Novels

The Man Who Killed the Deer is the story of a Pueblo "man who killed the deer" that discusses themes of Indian sin and redemption as well as conflicts between Indian and white culture.
The Wild Earth's Nobility is the story of a North Carolina family that moves to Colorado and is the first part of Waters' Pike's Peak trilogy.
Flight from Fiesta tells the story of a ten-year-old girl who runs away from her mother and discovers the wilderness of New Mexico led by an alcoholic Pueblo Indian.
The Woman at Otawi Crossing: a Novel is based on the real life story of Edith Warner, who ran a tea room near Los Alamos. Waters' character, Helen Chalmer, lives in a world where both Indians and the first American atomic scientists coexist.
People of the Valley tells the story of an isolated Spanish-speaking people in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains who face inevitable influence from the outside world.
Pumpkin Seed Point is the personal account of Frank Waters' experiences living among the Hopi Indians.
Midas of the Rockies is the biography of Winfield Scott Stratton who struck gold at the foot of Pike's Peak and made the Cripple Creek area a booming gold camp. It is the second in the Pike's Peak Trilogy.
Dust Within the Rock tells the story of the aging Joseph Rogier and the coming of age of his grandson at the foot of Pike's Peak. It is the third in the Pike's Peak Trilogy.
Fever Pitch republished as Lizard Woman discusses the necessity of becoming one with the land in order to understand th enatural order of life and the world.
The Yogi of Cockroach Court outlines the interaction between a mestizo, or "mixed blood", man and woman,and a yogi, all living in an turbulent town on the American-Mexican border.

Other Works

The Colorado outlines the legend, history and present condition of the Colorado River.
The Book of Hopi by Frank Waters and Oswald White Bear Fredericks
In this book, thirty elders of the Hopi tribe reveal the underpinnings of the Hopi culture by explaining myths and legends and religious ceremonies for the first time in history.
The Earp Brothers of Tombstone: the Story of Mrs. Virgil Earp
This is the composite biography of Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil, James, and Warner Earp, participants in the legendary fight at the O.K. Corral, based on the reminiscences of Mrs. Virgil Earp
River Lady by Houston Branch and Frank Waters tells of the conflicts between inhabitants of a logging town in the Southwest.
Growing Up Western: Recollections, edited by Dee Alexander Brown and Clarus Backes. Waters is one of the seven writers included in this anthology.
A Frank Waters Reader: A Southwestern Life in Writing by Frank Waters with Thomas J. Lyon
Masked Gods: Navajo and Pueblo Ceremonialism is a look at the history, myths and ceremonies of the Navajos and Pueblos.
Pure Waters: Frank Waters and the Quest for the Cosmic
Cuchama and Sacred Mountains
Of Time and Change: a Memoir
Mountain Dialogues
The Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue Lake
Mexico Mystic: The Coming Sixth World of Consciousness
To Possess the Land: A Biography of Arthur Rochford Manby
Brave Are My People: Indian Heroes Not Forgotten
Below Grass Roots
Diamond Head
Mysticism and Witchcraft
Achoma: People of the White Rock

References

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=88374 http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1mss332bc.xml http://www.frankwaters.org/

External Links

Frank Waters Foundation website