Claude Thormalen was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1940 and grew up in Alice, Texas. Claude has a masters degree in education with a minor in criminal justice. He has worked as a police officer, criminal investigator for Customs Agency Service in the Treasury Department and as a special agent with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in the Justice Department. After leaving the Justice Department, he taught law enforcement at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, where he also served as department chairman, Dean of Men and Dean of Students. Thormalen also worked as a middle school counselor in San Antonio. He now lives with his wife Karen in the mountains of western Colorado where he spends his time writing, horseback riding the many mountain trails in the area and hunting deer and elk when the law allows.

Birth Place: San Antonio, TX 

Accomplishments: Claude volunteered for 3 years in the 82nd Airborne Division and was discharged a Sgt. E-5.

Claude Thormalen served as Alumni President and then as Executive Director of the Sul Ross Ex-Student Association.

While serving in both the Treasury and the Justice Departments he received numerous commendations for his actions in cases in which he had participated.

Published Authors/Claude Thormalen

In addition to writing The Right Side of the Law, Claude has had a short story published in The Bugle, the magazine of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. His recently published non-fiction book, The Rising of Orion, will be available late summer, 2005. The Rising of Orion is about his experiences growing up in South Texas during the 40s and 50s as an adopted child of part American Indian blood who was very different from his adopted parents. The Rising of Orion is also a story about this child's inborn love of hunting and all creatures wild.