Valerie Elliot Shepard was only ten months old in January, 1956, when her father, Jim Elliot, was killed. She then spent her childhood, through age 8, in Ecuador alongside her mother. A graduate of Wheaton College, Valerie and her husband, Walt, are the parents of eight. She is also the author of a children’s book, Pilipinto’s Happiness, containing memories of her Amazon upbringing.