Dr. Stephanie Duguid is the founder of Do Good Enterprises. She’s also the author of a few books on personal transformation, healing, faith, and empowerment. A hardworking achiever, she holds several degrees in sports health care, educational leadership, human performance, and more.
At the appearance on America Tonight With Kate Delaney, the author talked about one of her more surprising books (yet also one that arguably holds the most special place in her heart). It’s a book titled Recipes from a Texas Angel in Heaven.
Featuring over 800 recipes, the book isn’t so much a cookbook as it is a memento of Duguid’s late mother who had died over 20 years ago. This same mother was also the true driving and inspirational force in her life and by far the biggest influence on the woman she is today.
Read on to learn how Recipes from a Texas Angel in Heaven came about.
How the Recipes Were Found
Duguid’s mother, Margie Rector, passed away in a tragic car accident in 2001. When she was still living, she was a well-liked member of the local community and was a teacher at Dulles High School for over 40 years.
Many of the students knew her for her open heart and eagerness to teach more than just the bare curriculum. Some of her students suffered many difficulties in life, and she was one of the few people who reached out to them. Aside from the connections she made, she would give them odd jobs to help them out.
As it turns out, one of these students would eventually reach out to Duguid right around the time she was attending her 30th high school reunion. In a strange, providential way, her reunion was set around the same date as those from Dulles High.
The student, named Kim, was once asked by Duguid’s mother to type up numerous recipes that she sent in the form of handwritten notes.
This was where it started.
Family Memories Within Family Recipes
It turns out that Miss Margie Rector wasn’t really cooking up recipes. She was documenting the ones from generations across the Rector family history. These included a recipe from her grandmother on her father’s side, his great-aunt, and so many others who had migrated through many different states throughout the decades.
While a majority of these recipes come across as Southern-style comfort food, they still make for a very culturally diverse, nationwide collaboration as Duguid’s family tree branches from Maryland, Idaho, Texas, Colorado, and so many other places.
More History Than Culinary
Of course, Duguid is very quick with the disclaimer that these recipes were published for the sake of preserving her mother’s memory and not necessarily to say they are ‘good.’
After all, she admits to not really cooking and neither did her mother. She’s even suspected that these recipes were originally meant to serve as a family guide.
Publishing to Support a Legacy
Despite this, it remained very important to publish these recipes for the sake of preserving the memory of a most wonderful woman in Duguid’s life. She and her husband had even started a scholarship (the Margie Rector Memorial Scholarship) in her honor, and every purchase of her recipe book will also go as proceeds towards it.
Overall, Duguid sees it as a legacy of her mother that she can share with others. Many of the recipes could be great opportunities to bring people together, especially families. Margie Rector was considered by many to be a very warm, welcoming face in their community who encouraged the values of servant leadership in both her family and others around her.
You can check out the full interview over at the ReadersMagnet YouTube channel. Recipes from a Texas Angel in Heaven by Dr. Stephanie Duguid is available on Amazon. You can also learn more about the author’s Do Good Enterprises projects at her website.