Nancy Emmick Panko came north from her North Carolina home a year ago to talk to her Northwestern Lehigh classmates about her writing career.

“Guiding Missal – Fifty Years,” which she was writing during her visit is now ready for publication.

The book is about three generations of military men who carried the spiritual prayer book she writes about.

The missal, the size of a pack of cards, was written by a priest and given to all military men from 1941-45. The missal contains all the prayers and instructions for celebrating Mass.

The particular missal she writes about was carried by her father-in-law, George Panko in 1942; the man who became her husband, Butch, who enlisted in the Air Force; and her son-in-law, Terry Owen Williams.

Panko became a nurse at age 35 and continued that career for 23 years. Then she began writing.

When not writing, she does marketing and publicity.

In addition to seven contributions to Chicken Soup for the Soul, she has a new Chicken Soup story coming out on March 21.

The story will be in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Best Mom Ever” and tells the story of “Mom’s Macaroni Money.”

The tale begins with her mom wanting to give her four kids an allowance and not having money to do so.

She improvises by using elbow macaroni as money. What ensues is a lovely, humorous story of life’s lessons taught to young children.

Panko found there is more fine-tuning than she thought there would be but that is what is necessary to publish a polished book.

The journey began when she was holding the 50-year-old Guiding Missal and thought, “if only this prayer book could talk.”

She was filled with awe-inspired gratitude for the brave and selfless service of all three men and more certain than ever the story had to be told.

Her research began looking into her father’s military background only to find a fire destroyed the records she needed. A phone call from Butch’s brother revealed a source of information.

There was a 289th Cannon Company newsletter with names, addresses and phone numbers.

She began contacting some of the men who had served with her father. One man sent a history of the company.

George met his brother Joe who was serving. They were waiting to be shipped home and Joe told his brother stories.

When she put her father’s history into book form as a present to Butch he was so moved she decided to continue her research into the history of the next two generations.

Butch took the book to Mogadishu, Somalia, for Operation Restore Hope as portrayed in the book “Black Hawk Down.”

When Butch was in Europe, he realized he was seeing places his father had been two decades earlier.

He was in Germany during the Berlin Crisis.

When they went to their daughter’s wedding, the book was passed on to Williams.

Fiction let her use the missal as a conduit for God’s wishes. Two of the three men experienced combat. The third did not.

Over a 50-year span, the missal’s cover became worn and tattered but inside the eternal message remained timeless. “Guiding Missal” is a story of family, faith and fortitude against incredible odds.

All of Panko’s stories come from life experiences.

She does radio and television interviews, scheduling engagements at service groups and has been invited to present “Guiding Missal” to the mayor, John Byrne, of Fuquay Varina, N.C., at a town council meeting.