August J. Pettigrew spent thirty-six years working in county government employment. She graduated from California State University, Sacramento, and California State University, San Francisco, with a major in criminal justice corrections management and a minor in education.
After retirement, Pettigrew moved from her native Northern California to North Carolina. She has written Starla's House to chronicle her relationship with her daughter Starla. Pettigrew is also working on Magnolia,a poetic autobiography; Crime and the Cross,a short story collection; JPheathers, Chickenographer and Letters Never Sent, books of anecdotes and letters; and Seashell in a Bottle and Four Caves,two children's stories.