Colin Ruthven was born in Sweetgrass, Montana in 1934 to Canadian parents who crossed the border back into Canada after his birth. Being born American but raised in Canada afforded Colin dual citizenship, which would go on to play a major part in his life. He grew up in Canada, principally the West End of Vancouver. His formative experiences there provide the backbone for his memoir, Enders.

In 1954, he left Canada and enlisted in the United States Marine Corp where he became a fighter pilot and served two tours in Vietnam. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in Memphis, TN after twenty-one years of service.

In Memphis, he went on to enjoy a long career as an illustrator with The Commercial Appeal, winning the Scripps Howard Illustrator of the Year Award three years in a row thus garnering him a place in the Scripps Howard Hall of Fame. He currently resides in Memphis with his wife, Alice, where he both writes and paints.

“Enders” is a coming of age memoir primarily of the author’s first nineteen years growing up in the West End of Vancouver in the years during and following the Second World War. The early chapters describe the family system and early influences, sometimes light, often dark, frequently poignant, that lay the foundation for a plot that develops strategically in the vicinity of puberty. Here, circumstances accelerate and predictably culminate in the dramatic events that require he leave Canada at the age of nineteen. The final chapters are a retrospective through sixty-four years since the author left Canada. He enjoyed two twenty-year careers, retiring from the USMC as a Lieutenant Colonel then as a lead illustrator for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tennessee. The last chapters also pull together several unresolved sub-plots in a surprise ending that hopefully appeals to the reader’s sympathy, if not for the writer, then perhaps for personalities introduced throughout the book.

From adolescent to adult the book follows the author through a life passage from runaway teen from Canada who enlists in the Marine Corps' as a private, goes through flight school, becomes a fighter pilot and retires after twenty years as a Lieutenant Colonel. The author describes a life transformation through two marriages, two tours in Vietnam, the moral and spiritual restructuring through alcoholism into recovery and a deeper level of consciousness.