Imagineless Writers?

I keep coming across writers, or those who claim to be one, with little or no imagination.  Many will even admit it.  I find this both unusual and strange. How can one claim to be a writer, which to me implies "story teller", with no imagination?  A neighbour, an admitted writer, finds her "Memoirs" to be so fascinating, she has take numerous writing classes in order to write them down, yet, she does not listen to people and shows little imagination.

An example, are engineers and scientific types, who either don't read or even believe in science fiction genre writing. Huh?  How can anyone invent, develop or advance science without imagination?  Ironically, those folks who work for the Walt Disney Company are called "Imagineers"!

 Imagination Im*ag`i*na"tion, n. [OE. imaginacionum, F.
 imagination, fr. L. imaginatio. See Imagine.]
 1. The imagine-making power of the mind; the power to create
 or reproduce ideally an object of sense previously
 perceived; the power to call up mental imagines.
 [1913 Webster]

 Our simple apprehension of corporeal objects, if
 present, is sense; if absent, is imagination.
 --Glanvill.
 [1913 Webster]

 Imagination is of three kinds: joined with belief of
 that which is to come; joined with memory of that
 which is past; and of things present, or as if they
 were present. --Bacon.
 [1913 Webster]

 2. The representative power; the power to reconstruct or
 recombine the materials furnished by direct apprehension;
 the complex faculty usually termed the plastic or creative
 power; the fancy.
 [1913 Webster]

 The imagination of common language -- the productive
 imagination of philosophers -- is nothing but the
 representative process plus the process to which I
 would give the name of the "comparative." --Sir W.
 Hamilton.
 [1913 Webster]

Think back on many books of Great Literature, you may have enjoyed.  I am sure the words of the author painted intense images in your mind as your read the novel or short story.  Perhaps the words took you to the ancient past,  an imaginary world, or a favourite children's tale you still remember in old age.  That writing requires imagination both from the author...and the reader.  Just imagine!