Rick Hofstetter with Jane Simon Ammeson

Rick Hofstetter earned a JD from Duke Law School; he taught business law classes at Butler University (Indianapolis) for many years and enjoyed a successful career as a business lawyer and commercial arbitrator in Indianapolis. He developed a passion for German–American history and old architecture; his greatest accomplishments are in the field of “Indiana Preservation.”

Rick saved the iconic Athenaeum building from probable demolition in 1991 and served as the first President of the Athenaeum Foundation in 1991–4. He and a close friend, Frank Mueller, bought the entire 19th century town of Story, Indiana, in 1999, and undertook the massive effort of bringing its architectural treasures back from the brink while developing Indiana’s best-known destination B&B, the Story Inn.

By his own admission, Rick is a curmudgeon and a cynic, and his satirical and iconoclastic writing style is much in evidence in his recent book. Jane Simon Ammeson, an accomplished travel writer, was Rick’s accomplice in some of the adventures described herein, and in the adventure of writing this book.