Former Nye County School District teacher turns author

As of September 2025, former Nye County School District teacher and longtime Pahrump resident Kevin Roberts has realized his lifelong ambition of becoming a published author.

After recrafting a novel he started over two decades ago, Roberts is proud to offer youth “The Old Man on the Mountain” and thanks to donations as well as the approval of school officials, this book is now available to students all across the Nye County School District.

Roberts is an avid reader whose favorite subjects to teach throughout his 20-year career with the local school district were reading, writing and language arts. As such, he set out to create a wholesome book that today’s youth would enjoy.

“The Old Man on the Mountain” is a tale of a young girl with a burning desire to have a horse of her very own, with cover art done by Roberts’ niece, Emma Roberts. Set in Sandy Valley and the surrounding area, the book takes readers on a journey alongside Kate Walker and Rowdy as they train, compete, succeed and fail in life’s many adventures. It’s a fictional telling but one comprised of many true events, Roberts explained, incorporating experiences from both his childhood and that of his daughter.

As for the title of the book, Roberts said this was derived from a granite rock formation on the Spring Mountains, which, from certain places and during certain light, appears to look like an old man.

“I used that as a catalyst for the title and in the book, it’s a sacred Indian burial ground where they go to trail ride and find solitude among nature,” Roberts remarked.

Prior to moving to Pahrump and beginning his career here, Roberts lived in Las Vegas, where he ran a daycare and preschool called Apple Learning Center. But when Las Vegas began to get overcrowded and he was no longer able to fully enjoy riding his horses, he sought more wide-open spaces, which is just what Pahrump had to offer.

“When I moved out here, I was selling insurance but I also helped run the Kiwanis Club as president when it was first forming. That’s actually how I got back into teaching,” Roberts explained. “A couple of the ladies in the club who worked in the school district, Elaine Goins and Judy Horacek, found out I had a teaching certificate and they told me they really needed me at the middle school. I credit those ladies with getting me back into the classroom, which got me into writing.”

Taking “The Old Man on the Mountain” from thought to reality was a long process, starting in the early 2000s when Roberts shared his idea with fellow Rosemary Clarke Middle School staffers. By 2003, with the encouragement of middle school librarian Lanette Bell and her assistant, Edna Goodwin, as well as proofreading from his fellow language arts teacher, Mr. Green, Roberts had completed the original iteration of “The Old Man on the Mountain.” However, it then languished for years as Roberts focused on his teaching career.

When he eventually returned to the book, he made the decision to completely rewrite it. Taking inspiration from one of his favorite classic, coming-of-age novels, “Where the Red Fern Grows”, Roberts shifted from a third-person perspective to first-person, which he acknowledged was a difficult process but one that he felt was well worth the result.

The inclusion of Roberts’ book in all Nye County School District school libraries also came about as a result of his acquaintance with former middle school band teacher Robert White, who is now vice president of the Nye County School District Board of Trustees.

“I had contacted him about possibly doing something for my wife’s 70th birthday, because he is a musician, and I mentioned that I had gotten my book published. Well, he ordered it, he read it and he got back to me, he loved it and he said to me, ‘This belongs in all of our school libraries’,” Roberts detailed.

And it may be his first novel but it is not likely to be his last, as Roberts is already working toward completing a sequel. Titled, “Who Let the Dogs Out”, this second novel will delve into the full story hinted at in the prologue of “The Old Man on the Mountain”.

“’The Old Man on the Mountain’ starts with a prologue from the mother’s point of view, who is taking her two daughters to look at a horse that is bound for becoming dog food. But for some reason, she really doesn’t want them to get into horses,” Roberts said. “Then it springs back to her childhood 30 years before that. And the sequel begins with the mother getting that horse for her two daughters.”

“The Old Man on the Mountain”, published by Fulton Books, can be purchased from various online book sellers and is available in hard-cover, paperback and e-book versions.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com