Some fundamental facts about the writer of the lines that follow this introduction may help the reader to more fully understand and appreciate N. Clement Weathers and his writings.

N. Clement Weathers is the adoptive pen name of Edwin (Ed) Allen Gallion, a Virginian by birth, a Texan by choice, who some say improved the average IQ of Virginia when he moved out and the average IQ of Texas when he moved in. Truth is N. loves both Texas and Virginia since he married his Va. hometown sweetheart and all four of his children and six of his seven grandchildren are native born Texans. The genesis of the pen name stems from the biblical revelation that the bearer of bad tidings is never well received, especially in his hometown and more especially if his hometown is a small town, which is the case with both of N.'s hometowns.

On the one hand, Ed Gallion is a very likeable and oftentimes funny "aginer" and naysayer who perhaps is feared by most of his acquaintances in both his hometowns because of his political and religious views. On the other hand, N. Clement Weathers is a seemingly slightly more respectable, humorous and harmless person who benignly takes a different view on some issues. Therefore, Ed and N. recommend to all who write to adopt a pen name!

Ed Gallion was born in 1929 and raised in the tobacco belt of Southside Virginia (Lunenburg County) as one of seven children. His dad was a railroad brakeman and conductor and his mother was a Carpenter (Ruby Carpenter of Brunswick County). He grew up working on tobacco farms and a dairy farm where he learned at the early age of nine years what he didn't want to be when he grew up. Surrounded by such historical sites as Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown, Richmond and Appomattox, his young life was steeped in the knowledge of the history of the birth of our nation, the personages of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry and his proud southern heritage.

By the age of six Ed was an accomplished communicator with his mouth and his hands and could never adjust to the restrictions of grammar rules and a pencil and paper as a means of communication. This resulted in his quitting school once-and-for-all three times before finally starting back in the 7th grade at age 16. This final start was prompted by the education he received while working at a sawmill during the very cold and rainy early spring of 1945 -an education, he opines, equivalent to a lifetime at Harvard! It was here working at the sawmill "totin' slabs" where he came to the first realization that the world and what it was offering him seemed to be totally beyond his comprehension and abilities to ever know how to change or realize a better life. The sawmill mentally drove him to his knees and he turned to God and prayed unnoticed as he worked for Him to set afire, disintegrate, blow up or strike with lightning this sawmill, promising his faithful service in return. God is not a destroyer, so none of this happened, but Ed's prayers were answered when the need for the sawmill at that location ended just in time for him to re-enroll in the 7^th grade in September, even though his primary objective was not to pursue an education, but rather his new found love, football! A 16 year old, 125 lb. 7^th grader on the varsity squad? 'Tis true - all the boys had lied about their age and were scattered around the globe fighting WWII. Ed claims he is the only living American who has ever played five consecutive years of high school football on the 1st team.

His study habits improved ever so slightly after his return to school and he managed to finish high school 10 or 11 days after his 21st birthday in 1950, accruing along the way five and one half years seniority as a callboy - yard clerk on the now merged-out-of-existence (track and all) Virginian Railway Co. which ran from the Atlantic Ocean to the coal mines of West Virginia. Quitting his job as callboy, he hired out as a hand fireman on a coal burning switch engine the day he finished high school. This happened to be 8 or 9 days before the Korean Police Action (so called) began on June 15, 1950, which indirectly had a more profound influence on his life than the sawmill job.

Drafted into the U. S. Army on Jan. 22, 1951, seven days after marrying his one and only wife Puzz, also know as Stormy Weathers, God's grace kicked in again and instead of being sent to the killing fields of Korea where American boys were suffering and dying on the field of battle in one of the most brutal and futile conflicts of all time, his entire infantry division was shipped to Germany where WW II had recently ended. Germany, a place that could provide Ed with an ample supply of his favorite beverage, beer, also provided him a safe haven from which he could view the senseless brutal and unwinable action in Korea. With this emerging awareness of other people, events and worlds came the realization of how so many people; especially those in positions of leadership (business, politics, religion) use other men and each other to advance their own purposes with total disdain for limb, life or any cost to others. Most importantly it afforded him an unabashed view of his own smallness, inadequacies and unlearnedness.

Exactly why did God choose to send Ed to Germany to receive these revelations? The possibilities are endless. However, one thing was certain - he had been transported in time and space from away of life to which he could not return. So it could have been, when he returned to the States and was released from service, to prompt him to take his young wife and $105 per month GI bill and enroll at Va. Tech (yea Hokies!) starting as a freshman at age 24 in 1953.

Or it could have been to return him to a front row seat back in the States to watch and wonder at the transformation of the unofficial lifelong Democrat Dwight David Eisenhower as he returned from SHAPE Headquarters in Europe just in time to become the Republican Party presidential nominee over favorite son, Robert Taft.

Or it could have been to view the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on that new and upcoming invention called television so that 50 years later he could relay to some younger people how the manipulators vilified a lone true American patriot, Sen. Joe McCarthy, making him an outcast and turning him into a true alcoholic. McCarthy had alleged that a number of people in Hollywood and high government office had compromised the security and best interest of the U.S.A. McCarthy was censured by his peers in the U.S. Senate for making unfounded statements charging certain individuals with subversion. As we down home folks say, "seems he charged the 'wrong' people". Interesting that his "unfounded" statements led to the removal-never-to-return of more than several ranking government officials! The audacity of the lead attorney for the opposition in the hearings left us a great legacy when he vilified McCarthy and changed enough nay votes to yea votes to bring about censure as he asked (paraphrase ), "Have you no decency left, Sir?" To this instant of time any freedom loving American who speaks out against official misconduct is branded a "McCarthyite".

It could have been to enable Ed to finish requirements for a B.S. Degree in Geological Engineering from Va. Tech one semester ahead of his class in 1957, move to Texas and work for a major oil company as a production geologist until he took early retirement in 1981.

Maybe it could have been to allow Ed to take leave of absence from his job in 1974 and again in 1976 to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Congress as an Independent American, i.e. not Democrat, not Republican? Could it have been to show him that the ills of this God blessed U. S. of A. will never be healed or even come close to being healed in the political arena? America is in deep, deep trouble when its # 1 elected official spokesman and defender holds that his sinful actions are a private matter!

It could have been to bring about a confrontation, reexamination and reevaluation of the organized institutional church.

All these possibilities share a common theme - people using and controlling other people for their own purposes. It is Ed's observation that this is accomplished through lies and deceit, i.e. hiding the truth or hoarding it unto themselves. Prayerfully N.'s writings will encourage and aid readers to be aware and to beware of these truth hiders and hoarders. That old saying, "Don't believe it until it is officially denied", is a good starting point.