By Kirby Vickery on the May 2021 Edition
The Manzanillo Sun Magazine was created by a wonderful lady by the name of Freda Rumford for her son and herself for something to do. When I married Freda, she found out that I liked to write and asked if I would ‘do’ an article for the Sun. I was thrilled but hadn’t the foggiest idea on what to write about because my genres were Science Fiction, Fantasy and Short Story. We put our heads together and decided that I could do a piece of the street scene in and around Manzanillo. And that was fun until we had to move back to Canada and I couldn’t be around to see, take pictures and write on that subject. So, we put our heads together again and she suggested I do something with history because of my education and love for historical things. That’s when Aztec Mythology got coined for a subject in the magazine.
Through the years, I would return to the Manzanillo streets when we came back and I kept writing about Mesoamerican Mythology when we were travelling or soaking up the Canadian winter sun in Edmonton.
When Freda realized that she would never be able to go back to Manzanillo, she sold the magazine to Dana who had asked me to continue to write. So, I did. I also turned over the distribution of it to her and that was a relief as the folks who ran my e-mail software were relieved that they wouldn’t have to threaten me for using their internet as a foundation for other internet sales.
I ran out of Aztec Mythology, then Mayan and Toltec Mythologies. So, with Ewa, my new wife’s, editing, I settled into the other aspects of these people’s lives while tossing in an occasional child’s tale every now and then. To me it was fun, and I was even able to include two stories which I made up.
I’ll miss the monthly writing projects now that the magazine is closing down, and I’ll miss you readers who have, at times, given me advice, directions to go, as well as accolades for my efforts. To you all, I say,
“Ma’alob tuméen ka justo ti’ le futuro.” [check the current day Maya language.]
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Kirby was born in a little burg just south of El Paso, Texas called Fabens. As he understand it, they we were passing through. His history reads like a road atlas. By the time he started school, he had lived in five places in two states. By the time he started high school, that list went to five states, four countries on three continents. Then he joined the Air Force after high school and one year of college and spent 23 years stationed in eleven or twelve places and traveled all over the place doing administrative, security, and electronic things. His final stay was being in charge of Air Force Recruiting in San Diego, Imperial, and Yuma counties. Upon retirement he went back to New England as a Quality Assurance Manager in electronics manufacturing before he was moved to Production Manager for the company’s Mexico operations. He moved to the Phoenix area and finally got his education and ended up teaching. He parted with the university and moved to Whidbey Island, Washington where he was introduced to Manzanillo, Mexico. It was there that he started to publish his monthly article for the Manzanillo Sun. He currently reside in Coupeville, WA, Edmonton, AB, and Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, depending on whose having what medical problems and the time of year. His time is spent dieting, writing his second book, various articles and short stories, and sightseeing Canada, although that seems to be limited in the winter up there.
