The Life and Inspiring Poetry of a Woman from Kansas.

Velma Cochren Priest Terry, daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother (1915-1999).

Publishing History

Velma's first poem was published in the church newsletter, then a local newspaper, and then notebooks filled and kept secreted away.

Finally, encouraged to dust them off she put together Sunshine and Shadows in 1983. It was just a simple little book of her writings penned in the still and silent hours of night when all was quiet.

Conceived as a simple gift to family and friends...the response was impressive for a simple little book. Local pastors read her poems in their pulpits, teachers in their classes, and people in their home. She was encouraged by how her simple verses had found an audience.


A second collection appeared in 1983, Heart Talks and it was followed by Valley of Flowers in 1995 (reprinted three times through 1996). More poems, richer and more complex, revealing her growth as a poet, waited to be shared. A fourth one, Silver Linings, was planned but a stroke halted that project as she lost sight in one eye and had reduced capacities. In October of 1999 she passed away.

(Her poems and songs, and their copyrights, were inherited by her family).