Dale Pedrick holds her latest book, John Adair: Path of a Patriot "John Adair did it. I just put words in his mouth." That's how Dale Pedrick describes the book she wrote about a little- known South Carolina

patriot. John Adair: Path

of a Patriot is now in print and available.

"Wherever you live, especially in the South, you will find Adairs in the phone book," says this author. "John Adair, a native South Carolinian, was father to 11 children, who spread across the country and multiplied. The famous oil- well fighter Red Adair is part of this clan."

A long time ago, Pedrick became fascinated with John Adair, who was born in the Waxhaw area of South Carolina and went to school with Andrew Jackson. In fact, she says, the two men fought together at the Battle of Camden and were captured there and held in the Camden jail, where Adair contracted smallpox but lived.

Adair, it seems, was money hungry, and moved to the Midlands area in hopes of making his fortune, but his efforts fell short, so he went to Harrisburg Kentucky where he was able to buy land and make a new start.

In the War of 1812, he again found himself fighting alongside Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. The two men did not always see eye to eye, and once came very close to the challenge of a duel. Fortunately for Adair, the disagreement was dissolved without a duel; Andrew Jackson engaged in several and never lost one.

John Adair went on to serve as governor of Kentucky, then as congressman and as senator. His tombstone quotes Rudyard Kipling: "Lest We Forget."

Dale Pedrick, a resident at Still Hopes Retirement Community, moved here from Florida to be near her daughter and son- in- law, Susie and Robert McWilliams.

"I was born with a pencil in my hand," she said, "and never wanted to do anything but write. I agreed to attend Agnes Scott College in Atlanta because I could take journalism courses at Emory University nearby."

Her first typewriter, a gift during the Depression, cost $26 and wrote only in all- caps. She was a reporter in her hometown of Waycross Georgia and later moved up to editor at McMillan Publishing in New York City. Her first

book was Around The

World In The Kitchen, and

she also wrote, Georgia

Cane Syrup, a collection of

anecdotes, and Murder in

Fernandina, a mystery story set in Florida.

"I'm getting started on my next project now," she says. "I want to write a book about my mother. There's so much to tell."