Gene Clements is a retired architect and educator. He began the Tilly and Elmer series by writing the first couple of paragraphs of a story about a frisky older couple. His friends thought they were funny and wanted to know how the story was going to end. Now they know, for better or worse! Gene grew up in a small town in the Midwest although he now lives in California. He thinks he's eighteen, but he's really the same age as Tilly and Elmer. These stories aren't necessarily autobiographical in any specific detail (and he wouldn't tell if they were) but the flavor of the stories will be familiar to many readers, especially if they've found their athleticism diminished but their friskiness intact or if they grew up at a time and place where sex was never mentioned, except to warn young people against it.