Jeff Lee Manthos: Welcome to my Website



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photo credit: Ball Studio, Corvallis OR

Here you will find information about my work, my interests, and my passions in life. There are individual pages relating to my violin making career, my current involvement with writing, living with cancer, and a bit of family history.

Since my father was a career Air Force fighter pilot, my family moved continually for much of my youth. We were stationed in Ankara, Turkey, for two years, finally settling in Laramie, Wyoming, after Dad's retirement. We moved yet again in 1965 to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I attended secondary schools and briefly, Colorado State University. I enlisted in the Navy in 1972, and that period is the subject of my first book, Steel Beach. There is more information about that book at the authorship page.

After my enlistment, I attended the University of Northern Colorado, where I obtained a BA in Philosophy. Having learned how to play the viola and violin while a student there, I then attended the Violin Making School of America. That led to a career as a violin maker, spanning the past three decades.

I have always loved the written word, and decided to pursue writing full-time in 2007. One of the primary factors in that decision was the diagnosis and continuing presence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in my body. I have successfully beaten three manifestations of that blood cancer, but facing a life-threatening disease allowed me to reevaluate what I wanted to do with my life. And now, I want to write.

There is also a resource page for survivors of lymphoma and other blood cancers. I have been fighting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma since 2002, and have encountered a number of helpful organizations and individuals along the way. Cancer is also the subject of my second book, Planet Chemo: Confessions of a Self-contained Man. A description and excerpt of this manuscript is under the books in progress page in the authorship section.

I am approaching writing with the same energy and passion that I felt when I first became involved with violin making. The authorship page also has information on current and future projects as well as some general writing background.

Other pursuits include cycling, gardening, reading, and endless yet satisfying home projects. My greatest passion is my relationship with Karen Gordon; she is my true life-partner. Here is a link to her home page: www.karenjgordon.com

 



May 19th, 2012












Current News

April 2012
Annual Instrument Show Northwest Musical Instrument Exhibit: Saturday and Sunday, April 28th – 29th, 2012 Marylhurst University, near Portland, Oregon.
February 2011
Jeff has recently finished radiation treatments for his 3rd relapse of lymphoma.
He is completing a 16 1/4” viola and will soon begin a 15” viola of his own design.
August 2010
Jeff has moved! His new contact information: 2635 SW Fairmont Drive
Corvallis, OR 97333
New e-mail:   jeff@jeffleemanthos.com
May 2010
Jeff was the keynote speaker at the Modesto, California, Doctors Medical Center cancer survivor celebration of May 15th.
November 2009
Jeff is the featured cancer survivor in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Horizons newsletter, Volume 6, Number 3. Contact Jeff for a free print copy, a limited number are available.
March 2009
Jeff's interview about his Sea King helicopter adventures with aviation historian and journalist Tamas Szorad has been published in the March, 2009 issue of the European aviation periodical Aeromagazin of Budapest, Hungary.
February 2009
Jeff's short story The Warrior's Song was published in Perceptions, Mt Hood Community College's magazine of the arts this spring. (http://www.mhcc.edu)
May 2008
Steel Beach has been selected by a Florida High School history class as literature of the Vietnam War era.
April 2008
Latest manuscript- Planet Chemo completed and submitted to agents and publishers.
December 2, 2007
Finalist in the Oregon Book Awards for creative nonfiction. Literary Arts
April 2007
Published release of Steel Beach
(Inkwater Press ).

Contact information

Street: 2635 SW Fairmont Drive
City/State: Corvallis, OR 97333
Phone: 541-754-7645
E-mail: jeff@jeffleemanthos.com