These are Leigh’s first books, written after enjoying a career as manager, consultant, educator and executive, but writing has always been part of her life: an article for a women’s magazine; a chapter for a healthcare management textbook; a newsletter for a medical staff of 1,400 physicians; articles for other professional newsletters; a master’s project and hundreds of consulting reports and educational presentations for hospital executives, medical staffs, health care professionals and universities.

She chose to write about the Vietnam War for a myriad of reasons. The war affected an entire generation of Americans. Women were not allowed in combat, so it was the young men who served and fought and died while wives, sweethearts, mothers and sisters worried and suffered at home. The casualty rates (deaths, wounded, disabled and psychologically traumatized) were appalling. More than 58,000 young men were killed, more than the 2020 populations of Council Bluffs, Iowa or Dothan, Alabama or Fayetteville, Arkansas. A majority of Americans came to believe the war was unjust, and massive protests rocked the country. Tens of thousands of Vietnam Vets joined the protests and were labeled as traitors to their country.

Many who served in country or in support elsewhere still suffer as do their families.

The men who fought and served have published dozens, if not hundreds of volumes about their wartime experiences. Few women wrote about theirs, or if they did, few were published, but that doesn’t make their adventures and emotional traumas any less important. The Pig Parts Series of novels tell the story of one such young woman. 

Leigh divides her time between an old family lake cabin and her home in Central Texas.