Larry Minnix has always been one of the best writers around. And he’s not even a writer by trade, we professionals have always lamented with jealousy.

Minnix, of course, is the former president and CEO of LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit long-term care providers. He led it for 15 years and has spent more than four decades in the business. All the while, the Georgia native has freely dispensed folksy morsels of wisdom that typically leave the receiver enlightened and grinning.

Now, he’s put his valuable insights between the covers of his first book, “Hallowed Ground: Stories of Successful Aging.” May it be the first of many.

It was published late last month with a soft launch and will enjoy a “coming out” Sunday through Wednesday at the LeadingAge annual convention in Philadelphia. Minnix, who has been consulting for organizations in need of governance help, and enjoying more grandparenting since retiring in December 2015, will be on hand.

It would be worth finding him, if only to ask just how he remembered all of the humorous anecdotes and pearls of wisdom about some of life’s stickiest subjects.

(Full disclosure: When Larry approached me about a year ago to read some “rough” thoughts he had assembled for a possible book, I jumped at the chance. Remembering his presidential campaign platform of 2016, it was the least I could do. He emailed me a copy of the text and I read all 14 chapters and 150 pages almost in one sitting. He didn’t know if he would eventually publish anything or just give away self-printed copies of his thoughts. I encouraged him to publish and market it as widely as he could.)

This is the self-help, inspirational stuff that made people like Leo Buscaglia famous. Genuine as the day is long, it is not a book for the professional caregiver, nor the family caregiver. It is a feast for the human soul.

Above all, it is Larry in full candor. Sometimes shockingly so. Not one to simply discuss others’ challenges or shortcomings, he lays bare his own personal weaknesses, family flaws, and enough skeletons in the kin folk closet to populate a five-star haunted house.

We get the full background on relatives such as nosy cousin Johnnie Mae, ornery great-grandmother Ma Dennis (who had three sets of twins), an emotionally detached father and dozens more. This includes the eldest surviving family member so many LeadingAge followers came to know through the years, Cousin Bubba.

Throughout, there are lessons. He takes us through his early years at Wesley Woods in Atlanta, where he led an innovative community offering long-term supports and services. He addresses the value of attitude, intimacy, dying and death, caregiving, retirement and “those places” people go when they can’t live on their own any more.

Always, there are anecdotes filled with real people experiences. He estimates nearly 100 different people figure into stories in the book. They all become part of Larry’s family. Many serve as exemplars, all the better to explore successful (and unsuccessful) aspects of aging. The wit is plentiful and the prose flows.

We in long-term care who know him well also know that his folksy charm is not to be confused with country-boy crazy. On the contrary. In “Hallowed Ground,” we see the shrewdness immediately. His first chapter, “The Twelve Secrets (to Shrivel or Expand),” appears to empty the notebook of all the gems right away. From “Choose your ancestors wisely — and get to know them” to “Avoid Giving Organ Recitals” and “Grieve without regret,” the reader must wonder how it gets better.

It turns out it’s merely the warm-up act for an engaging examination of life that will get you reflecting on your own, and likely acquiring some new goals along the way.

Welcome to Larry’s world. Pick up a copy and raise yourself to “Hallowed Ground.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Larry Minnix will be unveiling “Hallowed Ground: Stories of Successful Aging” at the LeadingAge annual meeting Sunday through Wednesday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. It is also already available for purchase through online booksellers, and his own website. The cost of the book is $9.95 for the paperback, $5.95 for the Kindle version. “I wanted to keep it as inexpensive as possible, to get it in as many people’s hands as possible,” Minnix says. “I want people to read it and say, ‘That’s my situation and that’s really helpful.'”