I grew up in the southern coalfields of West Virginia, where the mountain culture nurtured a closeness of family. I spent my childhood sitting on a front porch on a Sunday afternoon listening to old folks talk about times past. The stories centered on their life experiences growing up in the mountains, surviving the Great Depression, hunting trips, snow storms, and great river floods. My grandfather, Edward Lee Jordan (Ted) entertained me with stories of growing up at Hernshaw when the country was still a vast, virgin forest. The weekly return trip to our home at Brushton, West Virginia, from White Sulphur Springs, where we lived while Dad, his father, and brother worked on the secret bomb shelter at the Greenbrier Hotel, allowed my brother, Larry Allan Jordan, my sister, Michelle Jordan Halstead, and me to listen to our grandfather and Dad's stories of his boyhood growing up during the Great Depression and World War II. My grandfather and dad taught me the art and practice of storytelling that is unattainable in academic settings. Our mother, Lucille Midkiff Jordan, was the backbone of my elementary and secondary education. I earned a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice with majors in history, political science, and sociology from West Virginia State College.

While working at a grocery store at Racine, West Virginia, I met the woman who changed this country boy's main focus from making sure that every dollar that passed through Racine traveled at least once through his hands. In 1977 we were married made our home in Slidell, Louisiana. I worked with my father-in-law at his automotive, industrial, electoral wholesale company, John M. Walton Inc., in New Orleans, Louisiana. The job offered me an outstanding opportunity to travel throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and southern Alabama. I listened to many stories. Much of southern culture depends on storytelling, and it was like listening to my father and grandfather.

It was truly a crucial influence in my development as a storyteller. After the Walton family's business closed, I decided I wanted to become a social studies teacher-a career I had always wanted to pursue. I attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana, working towards a master's degree in special education. Later, I worked on additional certification at Southern University in New Orleans. Marian and I have been married for 38 years and have five children.