For Veronica Blair, family is both an anchor and a calling.

Though she now lives in Texas, it continues to draw her back to the Tri-Cities, and it’s the inspiration behind her first children’s book, now on sale at the Country Mercantile stores in Pasco and Richland.

The milestone is especially meaningful for Blair, 50, whose late husband, Brandon Wood, was part of the Wood family that owns Country Mercantile. 

Wood died during the pandemic at age 42, and Blair said her faith and family helped her to find happiness instead of bitterness. Through her writing, she hopes to share those lessons with others.

Country Mercantile connection

Blair originally came to the Tri-Cities because of the Wood family. She grew up in El Salvador and later came to the United States, where she eventually ended up in Utah. There, she met and married Brandon Wood, whose father Jay Wood owns the two Country Mercantile stores. 

In 2011, when their oldest son was 5 years old, Blair and Wood moved to the Tri-Cities. Blair spent her time raising their four children, though she also briefly worked in the gift shop at Country Mercantile. Her husband drove tractors and entertained children during Country Mercantile’s popular fall festival. 

In 2021, she unexpectedly lost her husband to Covid. 

“I’m just grateful that I’m married to a wonderful family. I couldn’t have asked for a better family to be a part of. Jay and his family have a lot of integrity and they have built a very strong community here and foundation in the Tri-Cities, so I’m grateful to be a part of that,” Blair said.

When she wrote her first children’s book, based on her experiences growing up in El Salvador, she had planned to sell it only online, but her father-in-law told her he could sell it at the Country Mercantile stores.

“It was just a blessing that my father-in-law owns this store, and he was willing to sell it at his gift shop,” Blair said. Printing stayed within the family, too. One of Brandon Wood’s cousins, Angela Krommenhoek, runs a printing company in Idaho where Blair was able to get the book printed.

Copies arrived at the Country Mercantile in late December. The 32-page book retails for $24.99.

And for Blair, it’s the perfect pairing: “The whole book is about a little country girl, so I think it’s just so fitting that they will sell it at the gift shop at the Country Mercantile, because it just fits so well with the environment they have here.” 

‘Mango Market Adventure’

Using mostly English with some Spanish phrases, the book, “Mango Market Adventure,” focuses on Blair’s childhood growing up on a farm in El Salvador and spending time with her grandparents and cousins. 

The illustrations by Victoria Medi were kept as authentic as possible, from the types of fruit in the orchard to what her grandparents’ house looked like, Blair said. She connected with Medi online and was struck by her vivid, watercolor style of illustration.

The world Blair grew up in is fading away so she sought in the book to portray some of the wonder of childhood. She also hopes young readers can also encounter a different country’s culture, a place where food isn’t lined up on a grocery store shelf.

“I want children and grandparents and parents to know that they can bond with each other through the simple things of life, like work and nature and love,” she said.

It’s the first of five children’s books about adventures and family Blair hopes to write, each one with a slightly different focus, but all based on her childhood experiences and some of the light, happy moments in her life. 

Blair started writing down stories from her life years ago, and would read them to her kids, who were young at the time. Her own kids loved the stories, inspiring her to write them for other children. 

Faith and fortitude

While she continues to work on writing her next children’s books, Blair saves some of the heavier topics for a memoir she’s working on.

Her life has been marked by profound loss, from losing her parents at a young age – her mother abandoned her as a baby and her father was murdered when she was 4 – to the more recent death of her husband, to abuse by family members who brought her to the United States illegally as a child.

“I feel like the stories of my memoir will help people heal, will help them feel like, if I made it, they can make it, and there is hope,” she said. “We don’t have to be a victim of the negative or the bad things that happen to us in our lives because you can always find love, and through love you can be healed.”

For her, some of that healing love has come through family and faith. 

As a girl, she had loving grandparents and learned about faith from her grandmother, who was Catholic – a religious element that makes an appearance in “Mango Market Adventure.”

Later in life, Blair became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and she said that her faith brought healing to her life and allowed her to embrace love and beauty. 

Her faith also drew her to Wood and then to her current husband Richard Blair, whom she met online and married in 2023.  

‘Part of Tri-Cities’

Blair lives with her second husband and children in Texas, where she plans to read her book in elementary schools. Later in the year, she hopes to do readings in Tri-Cities elementary schools as well. 

She still comes back to visit the Tri-Cities, where she has friends and family. And her oldest son, who is 19 and serving a church mission, hopes to come back to the area to work at Country Mercantile, she said. 

“He has deep connections here that he wants to return to,” Blair said. “So we’ll always come back. Even though we’re in Texas, we’ll still be a part of Tri-Cities. We love this place a lot.”

Go to: veronicablair.com.