Sad shadows haunt the Santa Barbara, Calif, mission. Almost 4,000 Chumash Indians died there between 1796 and 1840, but none of them are even mentioned in the mission graveyard. The more I researched this tragedy the I knew I had to bring the story to light. I did in the historical novel, Dream Helper, A Novel of Early California.

Willard Thompson was awarded The Sara Miller McCune Award by the John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts to write Dream Helper, which also won an award as a work in progress at the Santa Barbara Writers' Conference. Valentine's Day, a short story, was awarded a prize at the East of Eden Writer's Conference.