Author with White Bear Lake connections publishes first book

Roberta Wirth-Feeney is a resident of Centerville. She graduated from Mariner High School in White Bear Lake in 1974. At the young age of 10, she started journaling. Now, all of these years later, her journal entries — along with the work of her favorite author, Jack London — inspired her first book, “Looking for Martin Eden: The Diaries of Roberta Wirth-Feeney.”

Q: Tell us a little about yourself.

A: Dad’s company transferred him to South Bend, Indiana, when I was a toddler. I loved growing up within walking distance of Notre Dame. I was going into ninth grade when my family moved back to White Bear Lake, as dad was transferred back to work as general manager and vice president at Metcalf Moving. My childhood was completely separate and severed from the rest of my life. There was no ability to see my childhood home and friends, nor to play my violin in a school orchestra. Synchronistically, my oldest daughter, after earning her Ph.D., was hired by Notre Dame as a professor in neuroscience. We kind of came full circle.

I took advanced math and science classes at White Bear High School and Mariner High School in what would be called STEM classes today. My claim to fame was being in the first graduating class of Mariner, class of 1974. I next earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota. My first child was born the first day of my junior year. I only missed the first week of classes. She was 2 when I graduated. I next took her to grad school with me, where I earned a master’s degree at the University of St. Thomas. My husband and I had bought a small stucco house in Birchwood the last year of our marriage. I owned it alone for about 20 years and subsequently bought a new, larger model house in Centerville 25 years ago. Two of my three kids graduated from WBLAHS, despite us living in Centerville, so I never felt I’d left White Bear Lake.

Q: This is your first book. Why did you want to become an author?

A: I’ve always had in the back of my mind to write books someday. I