Everybody who comes to live at lakeside will eventually hear the name Neill James.

The  Mississippi-born world traveler and author who settled in Ajijic in 1943 who is revered as founder of the town’s first public library with free access to art supplies for local kids, patroness to promising young artists whose professional careers arose from that project, and benefactor who gave the Lake Chapala Society a permanent home.

The motive for reflecting on her memory just now is that October 8 marks the 30th anniversary of her death, 12 weeks before she would have lived to reach age 100.

The definitive Neill James biography is found in five specific chapters and other pages of Foreign Footprints in Ajijic, penned by historian Tony Burton. Through meticulous research he debunks myths and misconceptions about the most prominent among pioneer foreign settlers that have been repeated endlessly in other writings about her.

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