Each year, Celebrations of Life awards one author the distinguished Inspirational Life Story Award for writing their inspiring life story or memoir.

2009 Inspirational Life Story Award Winner:                 Mary A. Vaughan
Mary is a 77-year-old former nun, missionary, teacher, social activist, prisoner of conscience, and now author.She was arrested and sentenced to a six-month sentence at Pekin Federal Prison Camp in Illinois for peaceful protest against the School of the Americas (known as SOA or WHINSEC). While there she suffered a heart attack. Mary's memoirs describe her experiences leading up to and during her time in prison. One of Mary's quotes from her book provides insight into her lifetime of serving others:

"Sometimes in our lives, an opportunity opens to us like an epiphany. You can live only with the promise that there is fullness in living. With that, you must take the daily risk and choose life, even if it brings uncomfortable consequences." Mary A. Vaughan

Mary's hardcover book, Pistol Pete's Memoirs of Camp Pekin: A Federal Prison, can be ordered for $24.99 plus S&H.

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2008 Inspirational Life Story Award Winner: Miskobineshii
Miskobineshii was born in a wigwam, where her grandmother raised her with traditional Ojibwe customs. She became a mother, a teacher, and a mentor to her tribe and to the American Indian Nations. Her limited-edition life story titled: Miskobineshii: A Memoir of Susan Eileen Bearheart Fowler Skinaway, inspires all who hear it. Miskobineshii's book is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and also the American History Museum.