Volunteering in a library, surrounded by books and curating an author’s series provides me with a steady stream of information, education and inspiration. I get the opportunity to choose the authors, read their books and interview them. At least that's how it usually works.
It was different with Catana Tully. We met for lunch before I read her book "Split at the Root: A Memoir of Love and Lost Identity." She had told me over the phone that she would bring me a copy. I immediately recognized this striking older Black woman from her website, and the moment I saw her enter the restaurant, I became fascinated with her beauty and easy-going sophistication.
From my research, I knew Tully grew up as an adopted child in a German, Spanish and English household in Guatemala. Her well-to-do adopted family gave her every advantage, even sending her to a fancy private boarding school in Jamaica that was affiliated with Cambridge University in England.
With her life of privilege and education, and her knowledge of many languages, Tully aspired to be an international interpreter. While studying in Germany, she fell in love with acting and became an actress, fashion model and appeared in films in Germany, Austria and Italy. While in Munich she met and married American actor Frederick Tully and moved to the United States. Soon after, the couple had a son, Patrick, a mixed-race child.
Tully decided to complete her degrees, including a Doctorate of Humanistic Studies, and served as an associate professor at SUNY, Empire State College in Albany, New York, before retiring in 2011.