James Dudley Houston (November 10, 1933 – April 16, 2009) was an American novelist, poet and editor.
At San José State, Houston met Jeanne Wakatsuki, his future wife.
[1] Houston's historical novel Snow Mountain Passage (2001) was inspired by a personal link to the ill-fated Donner Party of early Californian history.
She was one of a small group who went up the Sacramento River with John Sutter in 1839 and helped build the eponymous fort.
[2] Houston died on April 16, 2009, at age 75, of complications of lymphoma, in Santa Cruz, California.