Darwin's Evolution ― A Peek

Darwin E. Peek, retired mathematician, doesn’t claim to be a wordsmith. Instead, this lifelong Texan and raconteur brands himself a “truth merchant,” parlaying his knack for spinning yarns into this entertaining book that immerses readers in a fascinating world of genuine, salt-of-the-earth folks. In large part autobiographical, in some places genealogical, and at all times anecdotal, Darwin’s Evolution will delight readers with the author’s sage reminiscences of bygone days. This is Peek’s experience of life in Texas. From his birth in a West Texas ice storm after crossing the Devil’s Backbone on Friday the 13th, 1940, Peek takes us down the trails, paths, tracks, and highways and byways that comprise his road of life. Along the way, we meet Granddad Charlie Peek, who would not allow anyone to take his picture; Grandma Peek, who baked biscuits from scratch three times a day; and habobs, otherwise known as sandstorms, which were common then. Ladies rode both horses and bulls astraddle, not sidesaddle, and the people spoke in a language all their own. Join Darwin E. Peek on his journey, and witness how life changed over time in Darwin’s Evolution.

Darwin Eugene Peek was born on Fri-day, the 13th of December, 1940, in an ice storm, just after his “parents-to-be” trav-eled from the family home in Clairemont, Kent County, Texas, to the Callan hospital in Rotan, Fisher County, Texas. At five years of age, Darwin began his first job, picking cotton during the cotton-picking recesses of the falls of 1946– 1951. He has taught arithmetic and math-ematics at Southwest Texas State Univer-sity (Texas State University) (1965–1966); at Trinity University (1966–1999); and in the Pre-Freshman Engineering Program (PREP) at the University of Texas at San Antonio and at about thirty sites through-out Texas, the nation, and Puerto Rico during the summers of 1985–2003. Darwin has published several math-ematical articles in refereed journals. He holds a patent for an icosahedron puzzle device that is similar to a Rubik’s Cube. Darwin married Patricia Ann Tanner on August 19, 1966. Their children are Peg-gy Ann Peek, Penny Ann Davis, and David Eugene Peek. His present wife is the former Willa Mary Dunlap Smith. They live in McKinney, Texas. His stepdaughter is Susan Elizabeth Kempf. Darwin has eleven grandchildren.