George Mortimer West, His Path in History

Nancy Hudson was involved in Panama City’s acquisition of the Panama City Publishing Company in 2005, obtained a grant for restoration of the building, and managed its transition into a museum in 2008. Now a volunteer at the museum she has been involved in review and acquisition of West family documents and photographs for the museum collection.

About writing this book she says: This endeavor started as an interest in discovering the West family lineage. That led to finding out why we call George West the Founding Father of Panama City and how he accomplished that, so I turned to reading his diaries for those answers. I was quickly drawn into his daily life and personal battles. During this process I often talked with people about the events in his life that I was reading in the diaries. He became so real to me that when asked how I knew these things about him, I once responded “George told me”, as if I had been in conversation with him that day. This journey has given me great respect and admiration for George. He persevered daily and overcame environmental, political, physical, and emotional obstacles that would have caused many to give up. I can no longer describe George in a 3 sentence summary. He was so much more.