Bee: Writer, Speaker

Growing up in small town Oklahoma, Bee Bloeser had a childhood dream—a life of sacrifice in the African Bush. In her grown-up reality, visits with a princess in a medieval palace, camel caravans coming off the Sahara and even daily life set to the rhythms of tribal music and against hazy African skies align with her romanticized vision. Then her filmstrip-inspired dream runs headlong into new realities—the brutality of civil war and tribal conflict, a violent dictatorship and a heartbreaking humanitarian crisis unknown to the rest of the world.

Equipped with vivid memories and documentary evidence, Bloeser now reaches back across the years to bring us this personal story set alongside a very public triumph—the global eradication of smallpox. After decades by her late husband’s side and in her own career in speech pathology, Bloeser now lives and writes in California. Her writing has won awards with the Society of Southwestern Authors, and she has been a semi-finalist in Tucson Festival of Books Literary Competition. She enjoys public speaking and is a member of USAID Alumni, Toastmasters International, P.E.O., and multiple authors’ groups. She treasures time with her children, granddaughter, church family, close friends and granddoggies—and she’s still in love with Africa.