There really is a Jody Coyote

I got my t-shirt order from CafePress a few days ago. I've designed a shirt that says:

JCEarrings.com (my logo)
is your online source for
Jody Coyote (JC logo)

(On the back it says "Lost an earring?")

I'd just put the shirt on and Segway'd over to our local pet store. While standing at the checkout counter the clerk read my shirt and did a double-take.

"Did you know my mother started Jody Coyote?"

Well, no. Official history has it that a guy named Gene Wolfson started Jody Coyote and ran it for many years before selling to a private-equity firm.

The clerk's mom is Wolfson's ex-wife and the original Jody Coyote. (Not her real name, then or now.) And there's a story about how the name came about, how Wolfson ended up with the company and so on. And she's very willing to talk about it. And I have had a Jody Coyote book in the works for months that hasn't gotten past the outline stage.

Up until now.

Charleen Larson