Joy Wallace Dickinson grew up in Orlando, Florida, where she remembers singing “I want to wake up in the morning, where the orange blossoms grow” at Hillcrest Elementary School and Saturday visits to the book department of Ivey’s, spending her allowance on Nancy Drew mysteries.

In a long career working with words, Joy has edited history in Williamsburg, Va., helped shape computer manuals in San Francisco, and written headlines for the Orlando Sentinel, one of Florida’s leading newspapers.

Since 2000, she’s written hundreds of “Florida Flashback” features about Central Florida’s past in the Sentinel, and is also the author of three books: Orlando: City of Dreams, Remembering Orlando: Tales from Elvis to Disney, and Historic Photos of Orlando.