This book contains many stories about my life, from when I was born at home near Girard, Texas, to the present time. Almost everyone around Girard, including my family, was very poor when I was born and many years thereafter. It was not easy growing up in the late 1930s, 1940s, and early to the middle 1950s. It is also about my family, schoolmates, friends, army reserve time, and coworkers. After graduating from high school, moving to Lubbock, and getting my first job (not counting pulling and hoeing cotton, which I did from when I was about eleven or twelve years old until graduation), things improved considerably for me.! My life has had numerous ups and downs, but thankfully, mostly ups! Overall, I have had a wonderful life! This book also contains numerous, which I consider to be funny, stories and thoughts. I hope the humor improves the lives of everyone who reads it!

Despite what Jo Ann Fuson Staples might tell you, she is no ordinary woman. She has led a remarkable life, full of adventure, love, hardship, and survival. Raised in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky, she comes from a long line of strong mountain folk, those ready to take on adversity and fight for anyone they love, no matter the odds. At only seven, Jo Ann tragically lost her father, and then, when Jo Ann was twenty-four, her mother to brutal violence. Although the pain from those experiences followed Jo Ann for the rest of her life, the bonds she made with her friends and family members only grew stronger, and from there, Jo Ann dove head-first into life. From having a relationship with the prime suspect of the infamous D. B. Cooper skyjacker case to taking on a twenty-six-year journey with her husband on diplomatic assignments to Central and South America, Africa, and the Middle East to surviving a grizzly bear attack, Jo Ann shares it all with humour, grace, and, occasionally, sorrow. Paths I Have Walked is a story of trauma, heartbreak, compassion, true friendship, finding love, and the gift of motherhood. It is a deeply human, compelling, and poignant self-portrait of a resilient woman ready to face life, no matter the odds.