Theresa (Ackerman) Verboort was born in Coos Bay, Oregon, and grew up on the southwestern coast in the fifties. After high school, she worked in forest-fire lookouts to earn her way through college to achieve a BA in English. These experiences were fine background for writing this novel. Always interested in writing, she, after a long career as a wife and mother, finally had time to bring Judith’s story to fruition. The great Kalmiopsis Wilderness of southwestern Oregon inspired the writing of The Communing Tree.