Remembering Missouri’s Lookout Towers – A Place above the Trees

The author was born in St. Louis mid last century. He still has relatives scattered here and there in Missouri. His Dad was transferred to Southern Illinois where he would grow up and live. However, he and later with his wife would “keep the road hot” between there and Missouri.
Always a big believer in hobbies, he had several that followed him for much of his life. “Towering” was one of them. More than just a hobby, it would provide a source of many smiles shared with many “tower friends”. A public-school teacher for over 30 years (American History, World History, Geography, Government, Civics, Yearbook, and Golf Coach) he would hold undergrad and graduate degrees from SIU and EIU. Following his retirement, he began to write tower articles here and there reflecting an interest held by many in Missouri. He would do tower series for the Reynolds County Courier, Wayne County Journal-Banner, Summersville Beacon, Current Wave, and Van Buren Current Local. As a contributing writer, he would do a multi-part tower series for the River Hills Traveler and also do pieces on canoeing and the towers of Southern Illinois. He recently had a piece on the Possum Trot Towers published in the National Forest Fire Lookout Association magazine. In addition to visiting most of the standing towers in Missouri (he has left a few unvisited so as to not be sad at finishing such a fun journey) he has documented many historic sites as well as towers planned but not built and a few tower mysteries. He has also done research in Illinois and Indiana. He is often called by others seeking information and sharing his experiences and pictures for free. As much as he has enjoyed working on the book, he is looking forward to doing more research and finding a few fire trails he has not navigated and friends he has not met.