Charles Neal Bertrand is from Opelousas, Louisiana and is living in Lafayette, in the heart of Cajun Country. He is the father of three grown children, with two grandsons and two granddaughters.

Neal started his company, Cypress Cove Publishing, putting out cookbooks. The cookbooks he has written and published have sold over 100,000 copies, and they are available both as print and e-book on Amazon. He has written ten books with 100,000 copies sold including cookbooks, puzzle and activity books, and a WWII pictorial titled “Dad’s War Photos.”

Neal has also helped other authors get their books published, which adds another 17 books to his credit.

In 2009, Neal and his son Jeremy began scanning and photo-editing old family pictures. Neither had ever seen the backs of the photos until then because they had been attached to the pages of photo albums kept in a cedar chest in the hallway of Neal’s childhood home. The photos were put in the albums in no particular order but was able to organize them.

Prior to starting this book, Neal was involved in charting his genealogy. He joined two genealogy societies and charted his ancestry back ten generations. Genealogy is one of Neal’s favorite pastimes, as is starting a major creative project and watching it come to life.