Next Unsung Hero

Opal Whiteley (1897 -1992) was a young nature writer and diarist from a logging town in Oregon. Her childhood journal, written with wax crayons on butcher paper, was torn to shreds by her sister Pearl only to be painstakingly re-pieced together and published in 1920 to much acclaim. Its date of creation and authenticity were later disputed, as were Opal's claims to being the illegitimate child of a French Prince. However, Opal's diary remains a unique and precious portrait of the innocence of childhood and the overwhelming importance of the natural world.