ROCKINGHAM — North Carolina author and Richmond County native Randy Wayne White made a surprise visit to Leath Memorial Library on Monday and autographed all the copies of his books that sit on the shelves.

White was born in Ashland, Ohio and spent his early life on a small farm outside Pioneer, Ohio. Because of the large amount of family residing here, he spent his summers in Rockingham, his mother’s hometown.

“All my family lives here,” White said Tuesday while spending time at the Ellerbe Springs Inn and Campground. “My aunts and uncles, Della Sue and Carl Denson. Just about all the Wilsons in this county are my cousins. Levon Wilson and my aunt Vera Wilson; I have cousins, uncles, aunts all over this place. I don’t know of any other place in this world where the people get along as well and are as kind and friendly. Nothing I’ve experienced anywhere else.”

After traveling for five years after high school, White worked for the Fort Myers News-Press in Florida for four years, during which time he obtained a captain’s license. He then bought a used charter boat and operated as a light-tackle fishing guide at the Tarpon Bay Marina on Sanibel Island for 13 years.

White began writing novels while working as a fishing guide, and wrote a total of 18 novels under pen names — seven as Randy Striker and 11 as Carl Ramm. Although he said his love for books began at an early age, after Tarpon Bay was closed, White became a full-time writer.

“It started in Hamlet when I drove to the library there when I was a child,” he said. “I followed the readings my mother would tell and became interested in books then. I had a number of jobs, did not go to college, but had a number of jobs after high school. My huge break came in 1978 when Rolling Stone had started a new magazine called Outside Magazine with a wonderful stable of writers — like Hunter S. Thompson, Peter Matthiessen — and placed a story with them. My marina closed in 1988 to powerboat traffic so I wrote my first novel under my own name.”

White’s bio lists crime fiction and non-fiction adventure tales as the genres of his books, and he is best known for his series of crime novels featuring retired NSA agent Doc Ford, a marine biologist living on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida.

St. Martin’s Press published his first Doc Ford novel, Sanibel Flats, in 1990 with a three-book contract and option for the fourth. Later on, White signed with G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the fourth book and has been with that publisher ever since.

When asked what he would consider the genre of his books to be, he said, “Mystery thriller, but really the books have their own stories and lives and staggered among all genres. My publisher, G.P. Putnam, seems to see me in the mystery thriller genre. I also have six books of non-fiction, as well.”

White added that altogether he has written 52 books and just finished his latest novel “three or four days ago.”

Aside from his books — some of which are New York Times best-selling — White has contributed material on a variety of topics to numerous magazines and has lectured across the United States.

He’s also traveled extensively and participated in a wide variety of adventures, including dog sledding in Alaska, helping to re-establish Little League baseball in Cuba and ferrying Cuban refugees to safety during he Mariel boatlift in 1980.

White gives inspiration to those who aspire to write for a living and said the best place to start is at the local library.

“One of the unheralded stations are the libraries,” he said. “There’s no excuse for anyone to be uneducated because it’s all right there. Meeting people and interviewing people, you can literally call anyone who, by and large, has no reason to waste the time of day talking to me, but they talk to me, and it’s a wonderful tool.”

Debbie Knight, events coordinator for the Leath Memorial Library, said that in the coming months the library plans to invite White back for a roundtable talk concerning his books.

“We would like to invite all of the Richmond County public to come and check out and read his books so they can participate in the upcoming event,” said Knight. “We have a limited supply of his books in Rockingham, Hamlet and Ellerbe, but if we need to we can draw books from the other four counties that are part of the Sandhills Regional Library System.”

Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674 and follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson.

Contributed photo New York Times best-selling author and Richmond County native Randy Wayne White visited Leath Memorial Library in Rockingham to sign the copies of his books on the shelves. White is pictured with Library Supervisor Adrienne Williams.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Randy-White.jpegContributed photo New York Times best-selling author and Richmond County native Randy Wayne White visited Leath Memorial Library in Rockingham to sign the copies of his books on the shelves. White is pictured with Library Supervisor Adrienne Williams.

https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_DSC_0912.jpg

By Matt Harrelson

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