Dr. John Atkinson holds a Doctor of Education with an Emphasis in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. He retired in 2000 as Professor Emeritus from Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri. After completing his 43-year career teaching mathematics, he pursued his interests in the National Historic Trails to Santa Fe, Oregon, and California. He also continued a lifelong hobby of Photography and is currently active in the Photography Club of John Knox Village where he and his wife Barbara have resided since 2013. Dr. Atkinson grew up on a farm located, he says, "on the west edge of the Flint Hills of Kansas". He remembers a little of the difficult times during the Great Depression of the 1930s and includes some of those memories in his book Reflections on a Good Life. John and his wife, Barbara, have been married since 1957. They have two sons, five grandchildren, and, so far, two great-grandchildren. Journaling has been his habit for at least three decades. This book is an effort to share a small fraction of what his journals contain. Reflections on a Good Life was written with the hope that at least some of his descendants would find it interesting to read about growing up in Kansas in the middle of the 20th century.