'And God Answered'

In a story published last Easter, four years after her death, Jean Bell Mosley wrote about a little boy who helped young Jean understand the meaning of Easter. He likened it to a game of hide-and-seek, when at the end "all who'er out can come in free."

Jean Bell Mosley's homespun wisdom and talent for finding the divinity in most everything have captivated readers of national magazines, books and local newspapers alike since her first work was published in Woman's Day magazine in 1947. Now that long and prolific writing career has been summed up in her autobiography, "And God Answered," just published by the Southeast Missouri State University Press.

Mosley's farm upbringing was a deep well of experience she drew from in her stories. Her vivid writing transported readers to her childhood or her backyard. "And God Answered" will do the same.

Her only child, Steve, is a beloved teacher at Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau. Her daughter-in-law, Viney, was the driving force in getting the autobiography published. Through them and her writings, Jean Bell Mosley remains among us.