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	<author id="664179">
  <name><![CDATA[Rozetta Mowery]]></name>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/664179.Rozetta_Mowery]]></link>
  <fans-count type="integer">7</fans-count>
  <followers-count type="integer">9</followers-count>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1257451556p5/664179.jpg</image_url>
  <about><![CDATA[Did you ever wonder about your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents past?  Did you ever wonder about the skeletons that are hanging in your family closet? I did!  My life struggles began the day I was born and was taken home to a shack in a place called Tin Can Holler in Athens, TN.  As a child I witnessed domestic violence and lived in poverty. My father was an alcoholic and a habitual criminal. When I was seven years old he brutally murdered my mother.  I suffered psychologically from the trauma of my mother’s death and from being separated from my siblings in numerous foster homes.  I developed a speaking impairment and received treatment from a speech therapist for over a year to learn how to speak again.  I spent over twelve years of my childhood in abusive foster homes. 

Even though all the odds were against me, I survived and become a productive and responsible member of society.  I was determined to prove to myself and others that there are no brick walls. I never wanted to be labeled, “one of those kids”, whether it was because I came from a place called Tin Can Holler or because I was a foster child.  I graduated from high school with honors as a member of the National Honor Society and was on my own at the age of eighteen.  I married my first husband and moved to Florida in the early 1970's.

After eighteen years of suffering domestic violence in two marriages I attended Florida Keys Community College and obtained my Florida real estate license. I worked for large corporations in south Florida as an executive assistant and worked part-time as a realtor in the Florida Keys where I lived for over twenty-eight years and raised my three children alone. When my youngest child turned twenty-one in 2006 I sold my home and quit my job to begin my quest to find out the truth about my family and my mother’s murder. My mother's spirit was calling me to return to the place of my birth and to Tin Can Holler where it all began in 1959.  On May 30, 2006 I left my children and grandchildren and returned to Tin Can Holler. 

I always yearned to know the truth about my family, especially why and how my father murdered my mother and the circumstances that surrounded my family.  Discovering why my father murdered my mother was just the tip of the iceberg.  When a person brutally murders someone they proclaim to love, it makes you question that person’s past and their upbringing.  I had no knowledge of my father’s background or his family, but my instincts told me there had to be more to the story.  I searched for the truth.   Uncovering the nightmarish details of my family’s past transgressions, traumatized me and shocked the residents of three counties in southeast Tennessee.  Most people would not have done what I did.  The family secrets would have remained with the ghosts who haunt the ridge where my grandmother disposed of her victims. Tragedy in Tin Can Holler is the story of a back woods family who did unspeakable horrors beginning more than a century before I was born.  It's also a story of understanding and forgiveness.

My novel, “Tragedy in Tin Can Holler” which chronicles my life and what happened to my family, was released in May 2007.  My book is an outlet to warn others about the dangers of domestic violence and the horrible aftermath of what happens to the children.

On August 10, 2008, after spending 26 months in Tennessee researching and  writing my story I rejoined my immediate family in Florida.  Discovering the truth about my family changed my life completely and sent me on a mission I never thought was possible.   Today, I am an advocate speaker against domestic violence and assist with fundraisers to promote and support domestic violence programs and shelters.  I am also a motivational speaker and a spokesperson for CASA and the United Methodist Homes for Children.  I currently live with my daughter Natasha in Riverview, Florida.
]]></about>  <influences><![CDATA[The bible and my faith in God.]]></influences>  <gender>female</gender>  <hometown>Athens, TN</hometown>  <born_at>08/04/1952</born_at>    
  
  
  <books>
        <book id="1406713">
  <id>1406713</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Tragedy in Tin Can Holler]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Rozetta Mowery]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/664179.Rozetta_Mowery]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29</ratings_count>
  <published>2007</published>  
  
</book>
      </books>
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