In our ongoing series promoting authors in the family, this month's image features new author Cynthia (Minerd) Moringiello and her illustrator Michael Allison showing off their recent collaboration, the children's book The Little Bandwagon of Hollidaysburg Pennsylvania. The book is about an old wooden wagon who lives on a farm and does important work and then iis decorated to carry community band members in a Fourth of July parade. All proceeds benefit the Hollidaysburg Community Band, of which Cynthia is a former member. Check out the book's page on Facebook.

Hollidaysburg is the seat of Blair County, PA, about 105 miles east of Pittsburgh. A large part of the town's identity is its historical role as a large switching yard of the Pennsylvania Railroad and, before that, a vital site along the old Pennsylvania Main Line Canal. It's included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Cynthia and her husband Danny retired to Hollidaysburg after spending their lives on Long Island, NY. They have attended many of our national reunions over the years. Her love of family roots comes honestly -- her grandfather Dr. Roy Sheppard Minerd and great-grandfather Rev. Isaac Herschel Minerd were the founding officers in 1913 of the first Minerd-Miner Reunion of southwestern Pennsylvania.

Other cousin-authors highlighted in past Minerd.com Photos of the Month have been Craig L. Falkenstine and his volume Efforts to Make a Difference: Reflections of a Hospice Chaplain  (December 2023) -- Dr. Matthew K. Minerd and his works of authorship and translation including Conscience: Four Thomistic Treatments  (December 2022) -- Thomas Beck and his seven novels (December 2020) -- Mary "Michele" Miner and her novel Their Moon Was Cardboard (July 2020) -- the late Jack Lewis and his novel Storm Coming: A Novel of the Civil War in Western Virginia (December 2017) -- and Jeffrey T. Minerd's fantasy adventure novel, The Sailweaver's Son (November 2016).

VisitPITTSBURGH is the promotional sponsor of this page. Be sure to get a copy of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau's Official Visitor's Guide, a 25-page workbook to help event organizers stay on track, no matter what type of reunion or meeting they are planning to hold. The booklet features a page of ideas by the founder of this website, headlined "Take It from a Professional."

Copyright © 2025 Mark A. Miner