Rozetta Mowery

Athens, TN USA

Rozetta is a survivor. Her life struggles began the day she was born and was taken home to a shack in a place called Tin Can Holler in Athens, TN. As a child Rozetta witnessed domestic violence and lived in poverty. Her father was an alcoholic and a habitual criminal. When she was seven years old her father brutally murdered her mother and she suffered psychologically from the trauma of her mother’s death and being placed with strangers in numerous foster homes and separated from her siblings. She developed a speaking impairment and received treatment from a speech therapist for over a year to learn how to speak again. No one ever envisioned that this little 7 year old girl who couldn’t speak clearly would someday be speaking to thousands of people.

Rozetta spent over twelve years of her childhood in abusive foster homes after witnessing domestic violence in her own home. Rozetta was also a Holston Home child in Greeneville, Tennessee. The Christian principles and teachings and faith in God, which she learned from the Holston United Methodist Home for Children, always remained with her. Just before her 16th birthday, her uncle DeFoyst Mowery, whom she did not know or could not remember took custody of her and she went to live with his family in Benton, TN.

All the odds were against her surviving and becoming a productive and responsible member of society, but she did. She was determined to prove to herself and others that there are no brick walls. She never wanted to be labeled, “one of those kids”, whether it was because she came from a place called Tin Can Holler or because she was a foster child. She graduated from high school as a member of the National Honor Society and was on her own at the age of eighteen. The U.S. Forest Service in Cleveland, TN was her first employer. She met and married her first husband and they moved to Florida.

After eighteen years of suffering domestic violence in two marriages she attended Florida Keys Community College and obtained her Florida real estate license. She worked for large corporations in south Florida as an executive assistant and worked part-time as a realtor in the Florida Keys where she lived for over twenty-eight years and raised her three children alone. Because of her experience with domestic violence she never remarried again. In 2002 she relocated to Port St. Lucie, Florida to pursue other interests. When her youngest child turned twenty-one in 2006 Rozetta sold her home and quit her job with a major corporation and began her quest to find out the truth about her family and her mother’s murder. Her mother's spirit was calling her to return to the place of her birth and to Tin Can Holler where it all began in 1959.

She always yearned to know the truth about her family, especially why and how her father murdered her mother and the circumstances that surrounded her family. Her novel, “Tragedy in Tin Can Holler” which chronicles her life and what happened to her family, was released in May 2007. Her book is an outlet to warn others about the dangers of domestic violence and the horrible aftermath of what happens to the children.

Today, Rozetta is an advocate speaker against domestic violence and assists with fundraisers to promote and support domestic violence programs and shelters. She is also a spokesperson for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for children in the states foster care programs and the Holston United Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, TN.

Numerous speaking awards and "Friends of the Children" award from the Holston Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, TN.

Rita Sexton, Malaika Cohen, Anna Maria Prezio, Dr. Bill Bass, Rita Golden Gelman, Joe Guy, Valerie Thompson Cearley, Dosi Elaine Cook Stanberry, Yvonne Mason, Rhonda Noble, Pat Sisson, Karla Baker and Annette Martin.

My Journey to My Happy House, Shackles, Confessions of a Feng Shui Ghost Buster, Flesh and Bones, Tales of a Female Nomad, The Hidden History of McMinn County, Unbroken Circle, Mountain Echos, Stan's Story, On a Rainy Day, The Royal Path, Glimpses of Reality, Gift of the White Light.

Public speaking to promote my book, "Tragedy in Tin Can Holler".
Public speaking to warn others about the dangers of domestic violence.
Promotional speaker for domestic violence shelters and programs.
Spokesperson and promoter for CASA.
Public speaker and promoter for the Holston United Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, TN.
Motivational Speaker for young people and adults.

When Rozetta's not writing or speaking to churches, schools, universities and civic organizations, she enjoys traveling to visit her children and grandchildren and her many lifelong girlfriends. She also loves hiking in the mountains of southeast Tennessee and the desert southwest. Having lived in the Florida Keys for over twenty-eight years, she loves snorkeling, boating and water skiing.

To view Rozetta's interview with Joe Legge on WDEF Morning Show in Chattanooga, TN click on this link: http://wdef.com/video/tuesday_may_27_2008/05/2008_1#comment-103866

To view Rozetta's interview with Tim Cable from channel WJHL in Johnson City, TN click this link:http://tricitiesblogs.com/index.php/cablecountry/comments/tragedy_in_tin_can_hollow/

Martin Luther King:
"The world begins to end the day we become silent about the things that matter"

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