Marla J. Selvidge, Ph.D. retired as Professor and Director of the Center for Religious Studies at the University of Central Missouri. She founded the Center in 1990 and directed its growth, developing thirty courses, as well as an academic major and minor, plus scores of public programs. Having published numerous academic books and articles, her most recent work is Life Everlasting and the Twelve Mile Blues, a personal memoir and research on Kentucky. Hailing from Roseville, Michigan, she has spent most of her career teaching in colleges and universities. Her Ph.D. is from Saint Louis University and the M.A. was awarded at Wheaton Graduate School. She resides with her husband, Thomas C. Hemling, Ph.D. a Global Research Director, and Princess Twinkers, in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Together for over thirty years, they have traveled to at least sixty countries and plan to keep on traveling. For correspondence with Dr. Marla you can email her at selvidge@ucmo.edu