Evelyn Ferchau

author and editor of Shawn's Life Begins and Shawn's Second Year Begins

February 4, 2012

Evelyn Ferchau has been in the habit of composing (mostly) rhyming poetry since she was six. As with her favorite artist, Norman Rockwell, she attempts to write about things in such a way that it will trigger a general cord of recognition in others. Along with these two personally published booklets, Ferchau has written about 100 additional poems that she hopes to incorporate into an autobiography titled Taking the Back Roads Home.

Ferchau attended Kingston, Michigan, public schools, and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor's of Education from Central Michigan University. Shortly thereafter she entered the Regular Army where she was an E5 training NCO, 45th Medical Battalion, Federal Republic of Germany, for three years. Since joining the OSU staff in 1978, she has worked her way from secretary, Psychology Department, to Manager, Correspondence Education. After the death of their only son in 2001, the Ferchau family instituted the Ben Ferchau Memorial Fund, which has annually donated a music camp scholarship to Stillwater High School and a youth news carrier's tuition scholarship in conjunction with the Stillwater NewsPress, and presents a safety booth at area driver's training sessions.

The two booklets of original poetry were composed and produced by the author to celebrate the birth of an only grandchild, a grandson named Shawn Rose. His birth in 2009 was especially meaningful to the family because of the death of the author's only son at age 15 in 2001. The booklets attempt to express the many changes children and their parents undergo in their first few years of life – some very visible and others, not so much.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2012-honorees/evelyn-ferchau

Last Updated: 12 January 2022