Author(s)

• 

  Sally L. Wilke

  Pastor, ELCA

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  Sally Wilke was born into a reading and writing family. Her mother's poems and articles appeared regularly in a Christian parenting magazine for many years. As her mother's life as a wife and mother grew busier, her writing talents were employed by area church groups, businesses, family, and friends. Sally inherited the reading and writing gene and, in her early years, worked with her mother to create skits and dramas for church groups and family gatherings and holiday celebrations. Her writing took an interesting turn when she tried (and failed) at poetry at the height of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's popularity in the late sixties. Articles and essays on civil rights and the Vietnam war became her primary means of communicating her adolescent angst. In the years before Sally and her sister, Sue Kirk wrote their spiritually motivated DIY publications on Christmas and Easter (see "Get Ready, Celebrate, Rejoice" and "Remember and Rejoice", she was primarily writing brief meditations and prayers for a wide variety of daily devotion publications, including "Our Daily Bread," "Upper Room," and "Daily Text." Her devotions were also published in the "Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America" magazine. During the course of her career in social work administration, she created and maintained publications for non-profit organizations, contributed topic-specific articles and essays to newspapers and magazines, wrote award-winning grant proposals, and monthly newsletter articles. Journaling since childhood, Sally pulled from those journals for her recent publication, "Waiting for Good News, Dealing with Chronic and Serious Illness." Keeping a record of her life with both her dad and her husband, Sally's journals also contained stories, bible verses, prayers and other encouraging readings that helped to guide her through her loved one's illnesses. Sally is currently working on a novel (first one!) about the intimacy created by a group of vastly diverse women following the 2016 presidential election and another non-fiction book on Mental Illness. NOTE: Three months before "Waiting for Good News" was published, Sally was diagnosed with a non-invasive breast cancer that required surgery, radiation and a five-year regimen of medication. She has new thoughts and words to add to "Waiting for Good News." See her blog, "Sally's been thinking" for more information.