grade. At age 15, she had her first
experience as a missionary, visiting
Morelia, Mexico helping to convert a
hacienda into a community center.
She came back a changed person.
Graduating from high school as a
straight “A” student in 1985, she
enrolled at Mary Hardin-Baylor
University, the oldest in Texas, and
then switched to Howard Payne
University, graduating Summa Cum
Laude in 1989 with a BA in Spanish
and English. During vacation she
taught English in Ciudad Acuna,
Mexico.
After graduation, she went straight
to Big Bend National Park, which she
had visited first at age 12 when her
mother was painting Big Bend land-
scapes. She stayed for 12 months,
waiting tables at Chisos Mountains
Lodge. The vast and raw landscape
was and remains a magical place for
her, larger than life.
In 1990 Ginger enrolled at SW
Baptist Theological Seminary. There
she met fellow-student Philip Hillery,
who had travelled the world and
quoted poetry. They were married in
Fort Worth in December 1991; their
first baby, Thomas, was born in 1993.
The couple spent 1993-1995 in
Japan as missionaries. Ginger taught
English and cooking classes in a small
port city and sang in a choir. They
were amazed at the friendships they
were able to develop. Returning to
Central Texas, Philip worked as a
chaplain and later, in Fort Worth,
turned to renovating a property in
Fort Worth. Their children Patrick,
Maggie, Rose and Nora were born
1995-2003.
The family moved to New Jersey in
2002 to look after Philip’s father. The
children were enrolled in public
schools. In 2004, Philip, aged 51, died
from heart failure, a chronic condi-
tion which he refused to allow to
divert him from an active life. The
family moved to a farm in Virginia,
45 acres of rural splendor. Ginger
home-schooled the children, grew
produce for their table, tended live-
stock and resumed milling grain and
baking bread, which she had previ-
ously learned in Fort Worth.
In 2010, pulled back to Texas once
more, this time by her granddad’s
health, Ginger decided to put down
roots. Alpine was chosen; she opened
the Taste and See Bakery, and wait-
ed. It worked. The whole point about
milling as well as baking is that the
natural, wholesome ingredients can
be retained in the process. Alpine’s
population seems to agree. Now, pro-
ducing all the bread she can handle,
she feels she is also continuing her
ministerial experience. During her
recent absence for health reasons, she
was overwhelmed by support from a
community that clearly cherishes her.
E. DAN KLEPPER
Born in San Antonio on June 10,
1956, the second of three children of
William and Nancy Klepper, Edwin
Dan Klepper had an early introduc-
tion to the great outdoors, which
would continue indefinitely. His
father William Dan Klepper was an
outdoors writer and photographer for
40 years, principally for the San
Antonio Express-News. His mother,
Nancy, held a doctoral degree in biol-
ogy and retired from teaching at the
age of 75. The whole family would
typically travel as a group during an
assignment for the paper, perhaps
going to the Gulf Coast or on a fishing
trip with baby E. Dan housed in an
outdoors travel crib with a lid.
Klepper did not take well to school
life, and completed high school
(Wendell Holmes High School in San
Antonio) in three years in order to fin-
ish early, graduating in 1973. He had
already started taking photographs at
age 14, using an old Minolta camera,
and considered himself an artist. He
was accepted in the Fine Arts pro-
gram at the University of North
Texas in Denton, graduating in 1977.
While at Denton he was intro-
duced to video work, and loved the
challenge of creating special effects
electronically on tape. In 1978 he
drove to Chicago and, on the basis of
his video work, got a scholarship to
the Art Institute of Chicago for their
Masters program. Living in a $90-a-
month basement apartment and
working day jobs, he spent the next
few years learning and improving his
video skills.
There was as yet no work for video
artists so he started writing occasional
magazine articles. In 1994, he was
awarded a Fulbright Grant to contin-
ue video studies in Europe, but turned
it down in order to go back to Texas,
where his father was dying of cancer.
In Texas he continued writing and
took a part-time job as a park ranger
of Kickapoo State Natural Area. In
1996, he wrote Wolf Walking, a natu-
ral history of wolves, followed by
Ghostdancing, about the Native
American spiritual movement in
1998, and Spirit Walker: J.D. Challenger
and His Art in 2005.
The Klepper family had always
travelled locally and sometimes
abroad: first to Copper Canyon in
1972 and later to Columbia. Klepper
inherited this passion for travel. In
1982 he married Julie Jacobs, and
they travelled regularly over a 10 year
period including to the U.K., before
splitting up.
By the late 1990s he realized he
needed to add photography to his
writing. In 2000 he moved to
Marathon, Texas where he estab-
lished a gallery for his photography-
based art that he also does on com-
mission. He started writing regularly
Cenizo
with accompanying photos for Texas
Parks and Wildlife magazine, and later
for Texas Highways. His most recent
article, in December 2013, is titled Big
Bend Winterland. In 2009 he wrote the
popular 100 Classic Hikes in Texas, by
Mountaineers Books. His next project
is 75 Classic Rides in Texas, which
should take about a year. Nourished
by the great outdoors of West Texas,
his long apprenticeship in art, photog-
raphy and writing has paid off.
First Quarter 2014
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