Date:         February 4, 2000

Contact:     Paul M. Howey, AZTexts Publishing, Inc.
                   P.O. Box 93487 Phoenix, AZ 85070-3487
                   Phone/Fax:   480/283-0994
                   E-mail:   aztexts@cox.net

Subject:     NEW BOOK RELEASE

On December 1, 1993, a double murder and suicide rocked the U.S. Navy and destroyed forever the worlds of three families. In a fit of rage, Alton Grizzard, a record-holding Navy quarterback, and Kerryn L. O’Neill, a Naval Academy honors graduate and track star, were shot to death by a fellow Academy graduate.

The tragedy plummeted Edmund J. O’Neill, a trained counselor in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, into a deep depression. I Have Finished the Race (© Copyright/February 2000) is the story of his journey from shock and anger over his daughter’s murder to profound and extended grief and of his eventual emergence into a world of acceptance and renewed faith.

"No matter what I thought about," O’Neill says, "nothing seemed to have any redeeming value." At first, working with his clients provided a distraction from his own inner turmoil; but soon even that was no help. "How could I effectively deal with what seemed such mundane problems compared to the greatest challenge I would ever know?" he added.

Inspired by his two surviving children, O’Neill survived. Although he began I Have Finished the Race as part of his recovery program, he soon realized that it could help others. O’Neill’s story offers valuable insights – both personal and professional – into the grief process.

I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE: The Story of an Officer and a Lady and Her Father’s Attempts to Deal with Her Tragic Death by Edmund J. O’Neill, D.Ed. (ISBN: 0-9677292-0-3 $9.95, non-fiction/trade paperback) is published by AZTexts Publishing, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, and is available on the web sites of most on-line booksellers.

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