Book Signing Event

Join us at the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County on 

Saturday, May 5th from 4-6 p.m.

Author Jeanne Ann Vanderhoef will be visiting Crawfordsville with her family to sign copies of her books and talk about her life. Light refreshments will be provided. Admission to the Carnegie Museum is free.

Daughter of Kent Lambert and Janet (Maude Snyder) Lambert, Jeanne Ann was born in Crawfordsville in 1918. She attended the University of Missouri and then moved with her parents to New York City, where her father was serving in the 61st Cavalry Division. Kent Lambert led the last Cavalry charge of WWI and later became the Post Commander at Governors Island, New York. Jeanne Ann was a model for John Powers until her marriage to Dean T. Vanderhoef, a new graduate of West Point. After World War II, her husband became an intelligence officer and a Russian linguist, and the family, which now included a son and young daughter, moved to post-war Germany. A second daughter was born in Munich. After three years of living in Germany, the family returned to the U.S. until 1956 when they were transferred to Bangkok, Thailand. The Bangkok assignment served as the inspiration for Jeanne Ann's first book, Gibbons in the Family Tree. Jeanne Ann published her second book, Hard Road to Heaven, in 2011. She says her most recent book is based on her own memories plus the stories of others who shared their war-time experiences with her during her years in Germany.

Janet Lambert was born Maude Snyder in Crawfordsville in 1893, daughter of Francis L. Snyder and Mabel Galey Snyder. Her father was the first Supreme Scribe of the Tribe of Ben Hur fraternal order. In 1916, she began a stage career, appearing in productions with William Powell and Franklin Pangborne. She married Crawfordsville native Kent Lambert on New Year's Day, 1918, and changed her name from Maude Snyder to Janet Lambert. Despite hopes that he would remain stateside, he was sent to Europe to serve in World War I several months later. While her husband was away, Janet returned home to Crawfordsville to await the birth of her daughter, Jeanne Ann, who was born later that year. Her theater career ended with the birth of her daughter. Despite several years of serious medical issues resulting from her daughter's birth, Janet accompanied her husband to his military assignments, and spent much time with her daughter. When Jeanne Ann went away to college, Janet began to write seriously, selling her book, Star Spangled Summer to E.P. Dutton in 1940. She wrote 54 young adult best-sellers over the course of her literary career.