Retired staff member publishes first book

Alice Tipton LaFleur, who retired from institutional research for facilities at UGA, has recently published her first book, Sir and Miss Annie, a must-read for World War II buffs and anyone who enjoys a good, old-fashioned love story.

“Sir” and “Miss Annie” were the author’s parents, Jim (Gen. James Baird) Tipton, raised in the small Missouri town of Senath, and Ann Livingston Little of Rochester, New York.

The book opens with a fascinating account of their family backgrounds and provides charming glimpses into their childhoods, youth and schooling.

But the heart of LaFleur’s narrative is the story of how her mom’s and dad’s paths crossed in Europe during World War II, where Tipton served as a fighter pilot and group commander and Little as a Red Cross volunteer, and of how their unlikely romance blossomed midst the chaos of war.

LaFleur and her husband, retired UGA classics professor Rick LaFleur, live on Lake Oglethorpe in Arnoldsville.