Interview with author Joseph Lee Gilmore's daughter, Jody Ospina...

Joseph Lee Gilmore

Fancy this - a writing blog that is actually about writing again! Call it a throw-back Thursday, if you will. :)

Last week, during her visit to our lovely state of Florida, I was granted the opportunity to interview Jody Ospina, daughter of beloved author, Joseph Lee Gilmore (1929-2005).

First - a little more about Joseph Lee Gilmore…

He was born to Joseph P Gilmore and Westa Mae Reynolds on 1/31/1929. After graduating from Ohio State, he worked at the Lorain Journal and the Toledo Blade before settling in at Goodyear International as the Vice President of Public Relations. He married Donna Hanes in Huron, OH, on 8/8/1952. They had three children, Jim, Jody, and Billie. In the fall of 1969, he decided to take a prolonged leave of absence at Goodyear to write full time, seeing if he could "make it."He went on to write four stand-alone novels and 8 books for the Nick Carter spy series, all of which were published between 1973 and 1985. In the January 1972 issue of Redbook, Joseph was featured in a novelist interview, named "The Reunion."After a heart attack in late December 1969 and later issues, his writing took a back seat to his health. Joseph passed away on 12/5/2005, leaving a legacy of books, children and grandchildren, and memories. (See the bottom of the blog for a list of his books.)

My personal favorite, in the memories department, was the time Joseph and Donna came to our middle Tennessee home in 1989. I had written my first "book" before he came. It was during my second year of treatment for cancer - I was bald and embarrassed to even ask, but I so wanted to know the opinion of an "actually published writer!"He asked if I wanted real criticism or just a look - I wanted the real and raw. The next morning, he produced my manuscript - little notations in red ink all over. "Every draft needs work, but you have talent, Beth Ann." I think those ten words had me floating on cloud nine for the next month! I, of course, still have that copy, red ink and all - cherished!

The interview, with Jody (Gilmore) Ospina…

As we sat sipping our ever-healthy diet cokes at Mom and Dad's kitchen table, amidst discussions on how to best research genealogy and writing, I nearly let this opportunity slip by! My original idea to do the interview Jody was over a year ago, when my blog was centered solely around writing. My questions are in this boring black and Jody's answers are in red. (Please excuse the boring wording of questions - this is my first attempt at an interview!)

What did you think about your dad's career choice - to be a writer?
I was proud of him and amazed by it. I remember opening the Redbook and there was his name - amazing!

I know he had a full-time job during your childhood, so how much did he write and where?
When he was still working, he would write after we fell asleep - I remember falling asleep to the sounds of the typewriter. After he was writing full time, he would spend ten hours or so in a day, but not everyday. He was a loner, but an outgoing introvert. He built a little cabin out of plywood way in the back of our twenty acres. He had a little card table and chair out there.

His books weren't children's novels - were you allowed to read them as a kid? Have you read everything he wrote? What do you think about the books?
Oh, yes, we were allowed to read them. He wrote for the Nick Carter series. Then, he wrote a bunch of "dirty books" for esquire and such - Billie and I used to sneak into his office to read bits of it, we were a little  embarrassed, but he made good money doing it! I don't really remember Blue Flame, but I really loved Night Never Ending. Rattlers was made into a sci-fi movie and renamed "Rattled."

Speaking of Night Never Ending - there is quite a story around that one, even some danger?
(He wrote that with Eugenesz Komorowski, a Polish POW in WWII who was shot in the Katyn massacre.) Dad was drinking at the VFW - Komorowski was a janitor there. Someone suggested dad should buy the guy some drinks and get him to talk about WWII. It took a lot of visits and drinks to get him to open up to dad and talk. Somehow, he was threatened from the Russian secret service because it implicated them. So, he moved around the country and was too scared to talk. Obviously there was truth to that when we started getting harassed. It started with phone calls and someone speaking what we thought was Russian. Then, they would call and hang up, over and over again. Finally, a car would pull up into the driveway with lights onto the house at night and just sit out there. As kids, my sister, brother, and I didn't understand the extent or know the details, but Mom was afraid and Dad, less. After Night Never Ending came out, Reader's Digest was going to pick it up, but then decided against it - there were already Cold War problems and they didn't want to enflame things with Russia. The rights to turn the book into a movie have been bought a couple of times, but no one seemed to want to go through with that.

I heard that you discovered something in 2016?
We were going through some of Dad's old things and found a completed manuscript, titled "The Butterfly Doctor!" We didn't even know he had written another novel. It is completely different than his other books, with spies and suspense. It is about his brother, Jim, whose passion was to rescue animals and any living thing, including an injured butterfly - my favorite of his yet. We are in the process of getting that typed into the computer (it is all type written) and we'll see if anyone is interested in publishing it.

Anything more about your dad, about writing specifically?
When he was in his room or cabin writing, we weren't supposed to go in and bother him; but, if we did, he was never angry or annoyed. He was always so kind!

Which is exactly how I remember Joseph Lee Gilmore to always be - very kind! A special thanks to Jody for allowing me to interview her and to her sister, Billie, for being available to answer the unknowns!

Known Books, dates are publication dates-

"Nick Carter" Series:
Strike of the Hawk - 1980
War from the Clouds - 1980
The Treason Games - 1982
The Christmas Kill - 1983
Operation Vendetta - 1983
San Juan Inferno - 1984
Last Flight to Moscow - 1985
The Assassin Convention - 1985

Vendetta - 1973
Night Never Ending - 1974
Rattlers - 1979
Blue Flame - 1982

The Butterfly Doctor - hopefully sometime soon!

An additional "PS" to this - My mom and Jody have been close friends since they were 11 and 12 years old. My brother is named after a combination of both of their father's - William Joseph.