RALPH THURSTON

Ralph Thurston lives in Bingham County, Idaho with his wife, watercolorist Jeriann Sabin. An almost lifelong resident of the area, he worked on commercial farms and attended Idaho State University in between stints of work. He and his wife raised cut flowers for over twenty years, serving resort areas in Jackson, Wyoming and Sun Valley, Idaho. Upon retiring, Thurston wrote two "how-to" books on the trade before turning his attention to local history with the novel "Tilden" and three subsequent books "The Shanghi Plain," "The Great Pasture," and "We, the Peoples," that cover canal building, the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, and the rise of agriculture in Southeast Idaho. Thurston has also written on subjects as diverse as Buddhist thought, grief, humor, and trapping and is working on another work of fiction based on local history.