In 2004, the local newspaper did an article on Jake entitled "Mom and Pop operation lights way for US troops”.  Jake was amazed when he saw his picture on the front page of the newspaper.  The next morning following the newspaper article the local television station did a video presentation that was on the local news that night.  The article the local newspaper did on Jake made the Associated Press, and made news all over the state of Florida. Jake wasn't aware of this extensive coverage, until he received a telephone call from his niece who lived in Gainesville, Fl.  She called her uncle Jake in Pensacola and told him about the article she had seen in her local newspaper.

Jake has been collecting stories all his life--after he retired from the printing business, he dedicated one hour a day to writing.  He filled six notebooks with his material.  Some of the stories are from his own boyhood in rural Alabama, others are ones told to him by his mother and other relatives about their own experiences.  Now he’s woven many of these stories into his new novel: “ ‘T’ Mater Gravy 7 days a week and twice on Sunday.”  When you read this book, you’ll be immersed into a surprisingly foreign time and place.