Author, conservationist, teacher, naturalist, advocate, philosopher, hunter, comedian, student —each of these describes Jim Featherston. He and his wife Donna write regularly for this newspaper and others. 

He recently spent  a part of  a morning by his fire, with Donna always close, talking about his life. The discussion opened with some observations on his writing.

“It has been a constant hunger. It manifested itself early in my life. I loved to write letters. I always kept a journal,” Featherston explained.  He spent seven years at a country school, taught by dedicated and caring teachers. Later in life, after having some of his work published, Featherston decided to take a couple of journalism classes. “I thought I ought to learn how,” he quips.

When Featherston was a sophomore in high school, he began working at the Prospect News in Doniphan in Ripley County as a printer’s devil. He explained that the job title was a term that a journeyman printer “hung on a kid because he was too little to fight ‘em.” The job consisted mostly of all the dirty, menial work that no one else wanted to do. As he worked, he watched men banging away on typewriters, writing stories against their deadlines. It impressed him. He continued at that job until he graduated in 1941.

In 1943, he joined the Army Air Corps, and after the war he returned to Doniphan to work in the real estate business with his father. He maintained his military ties in the army reserves and national guard, steering into the army side when the Army Air Corps became the U.S. Air Force.

He ran for Sheriff of Ripley County in 1948 against 16 other men.  The Associated Press claimed that his election win made him the youngest sheriff in the nation at the age of 25. He did not run for re-election.

Instead, he became an agent for the Conservation Commission, the fore runner of the modern Department of Conservation.

As a Conservation Agent he worked mostly in Butler County and on Lake Wappapello in Wayne County.

Featherston left the agency for more lucrative work in the manufacturing and insurance fields, eventually landing at Unitog’s St. Louis branch. It was while working here that he met and married Donna. He retired in 1983 at the age of 60.

He also retired from the military at that time as a full Colonel. Throughout his many career changes (“I just could never hold a job,” he jokes) he continued his part-time military service, and taught for many years at the St. Louis Army School. He spent every Wednesday at Fort Leonard Wood instructing field grade officers. 

Many men look forward to retirement as a time when they no longer have to work. Featherston welcomed it as a time to do the work he loved—writing.

By 1984, he had written “Reflections Along the Current River, Tales of the Ozarks.” Promoting the book meant being interviewed by every television station in Missouri. It became a regional best-seller.
The Featherston’s settled in eastern Gasconade County in the early 1990’s. Their rural home sits back in the quiet woods that they both love to learn about and write about.

“She was there when I needed her,” Jim says as he pats Donna’s hand. “Learning is the common thread we share. We shared an interest in wildflowers. I thought I could recognize every wildflower in Missouri, but she taught me some things. This is what we are here for, to grow and learn.”

“I’m in the bottom of the ninth and I know it,” Featherston says with a smile. “Now, I can see how interconnected life is, all life is. Violence generates violence. We all have more in common than we have differences,” he adds.

“If each of us could say ‘I love who I am, I love who I am with and I love what I am doing’ then what would be left for spitefulness?”

Both of the Featherston’s are committed  to maintaining the environment and concerned with the damage done to our planet. “For the first time, I think the earth is fighting back,” Jim notes. “The planet has gone through several stages. When a creature of nature gets in the way, nature takes it out,” he points out.

“It reminds me of the line from that old cartoon strip, ‘We have met the enemy and he is us.’ For better or worse, we are on this planet together. We can’t afford to be wrong about our air, our water, and our land,” he concludes.

He offers some simple advice to those who wish to listen: “Keep a journal, it will make you more aware of the world you live in. Make connections with people, cell phones are great, but they can’t replace the written word. Spend more time listening than talking.”

Someone once said that when a wise man speaks it pays to listen. When Jim Featherston speaks, listening is a privilege and the pay-off is immediate.