- July 12, 2025
A Palm Coast resident's memoir — a story about growing up on a cotton farm while navigating a family dynamic impacted by mental illness, child abuse and racial co-dependency — has now been published.
Ed Llewellyn, originally of South Carolina, is a retired U.S. Army officer who after 20 years in the military transitioned into health care, serving as a hospital chief executive officer for 16 years. His memoir, titled "The Sound of the Whippoorwill," was published by Palmetto Publishing on May 20.
Llewellyn, born in 1948, knew from a young age that "something wasn't right with his mother," according to a press release.
"His suspicions were confirmed on his fourth birthday, when she flew into a rage and threw the cake his grandmother had made for him out the window, then whipped him with a belt for being upset," the press release states. "Born on a cotton farm, life wasn’t easy for Edward, his older brother, and his younger sister. Still, they had support in some ways — like Polly and Mack, or Aunt Lou — but the children had to find a way to fend for themselves."
Llewellyn holds a doctorate degree in clinical psychology and has written many articles on health care leadership, as well as taught that Campbell University in North Carolina for 20 years.
Now residing in Palm Coast, "he's a dedicated family man, marathoner, and long-distance cyclist," the press release states. "Inspired by his observations of human behavior and social issues, he passionately addresses mental illness and child abuse in his writing."
