Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 34

Book Club Invitation!

This evening! They’ve read all three Leora books and I’m invited to get in on the discussion. Amazed and thankful.

I’m especially grateful because it looks like I must reluctantly turn down out-of-town invitations.

I Almost Missed this Freedom Rock Book “Selfie”

This was posted on July 2021, but I didn’t notice the book in one of the photos. I didn’t even think about taking one there with Leora’s Letters.

From Steve Simpson and Jimmie Kimmel, on Facebook:

“First of all, our apologies to Joy for coming to your book a bit late . . . it was worth the wait! As a complete work, this book deserves National recognition. This book is one story, and many stories all at the same time. Told in the words of its own heroes (you hear their voices in their letters) it totally captures & preserves that moment in American & World history of the early 1940’s ~ from the isolated mid-west farm to the farthest reaches around the globe.

“For all of you Dallas County natives, this is a MUST read ~ we guarantee it will touch a personal spot in your heart. A real treasure! LEORA’S LETTERS by Joy Neal Kidney.

“A story while we were at the rock in Minburn: a young-ish couple stopped and when they noticed the copy of the book I was holding, they wanted to know the story. We barely got three words out before they took over with “Oh, yeah, they made a movie about this, Saving Private Ryan, and these brothers are actually from northern Iowa, and, oh yeah, there’s even a song about this …blah blah blah”. When they FINALLY came up for air (from all of their misinformation), we proceeded to set them straight.

“As we walked away and left them staring at the rock, we were hearing a lot of “WOWS” as they were processing what we had shared . . . I think they were literally making an online purchase of the book by the time we got to our car.

“It was a great moment.”

Many Iowans, when they hear “five brothers,” think of the Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, who were all lost on the same ship in 1942. Books have been written about them and movies made, along with a wing in a museum in Waterloo.

The Wilson brothers weren’t remembered until 2019, when the Dallas County Freedom Rock was dedicated, and five weeks later, Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II was published.

I’m thankful and humbled by this compelling selfie and note!

More about Iowa’s Freedom Rocks.

Where the Tall Corn Grows by Rick Friday

I could have been born where the sawgrass meets the sky or where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain or even beneath the smoky mountain rain, but I was born in this place where the tall corn grows. A place where city meets country and where the Mississippi and the Missouri divide. A place where humidity can grow as high as the corn and where the landscape weeps at sunset. A place where you can see a Goldfinch sitting on the stem of a Wild Prairie Rose bush flourishing beneath the shade of a mighty Burr Oak tree. A place that was once the home of a people Native Americans called “The Sleepy Ones.”.I was raised in a land where the corn tassels grow well above a young boy’s head and I was taught at an early age to not panic if I was ever lost within a cornfield. My father told me to follow a row and it will lead me to the edge of the field and if I didn’t follow his instructions I could still be there in the fall when he harvested the corn. Many times I traveled blindly through a cornfield to take a shortcut to a friend’s house or to challenge myself for no other reason than to see how long it would take to reach the other side. Sometimes I would run as fast as I could through the rows of corn and whiz by the heavy ears hanging from sturdy stalks like they were dotted lines on a speedy highway. Pollen would fill my eyes and the corn leaves would cut and scratch my face and my forearms, but the discomfort was quickly forgotten when the row came to an end and the world opened back up again..Corn is appreciated by all of our senses, our sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing. Deep dark green in color, the plants can grow as high as twelve feet, making it highly visible and very captivating. The feel of the leaf blades are rough on the topside and soft underneath and the stalk is sturdy and fibrous. During Summer’s humid evenings you can smell the corn sweating all around you. The taste of sweet corn is delightfully delicious. It has been said that on a still night you can actually hear the corn growing and with a gentle breeze a field of corn will speak to you with a thousand voices. I feel fortunate to have been born here where the tall corn grows and I still call this land my home and find its serenity simply A-Maizing!—–

Rick Friday is a farmer (from Union County, Iowa), cartoonist, and writer published worldwide with a weekly and monthly print circulation of 193,000. He’s also a Union County Supervisor, and has a whole passel of grandchildren, a couple of them are shown with him.

Happy Birthday Music Box, a Family Tradition

When son Dan was a kid, we’d wind up the Fisher-Price Happy Birthday music box and let it play for each person in the family. It took the place of the traditional crank one Mom played when my sister and I were little.

She also played it over the phone to us when we were grown. After each time she played the tune forward, she’d wind it backward just for fun. She eventually wore out the thing.

But yes, I can still hear the tune forward and backward.

Sis Gloria’s note: “Give to me by Grpa/Grma Neal 1952?”

“Quit working June 4, 2010.” It must have given up while Mom was playing it for me.

Copyright 1952, Mattel Incorporated, Los Angeles, California, USA

All Those Cousins at a 4-year-olds’ Birthday Party

Although the Wilson children eventually moved to California, the rest of these cousins grew up around Dexter, Iowa. This photo was taken in July 1950 on the farm NW of Dexfield Park where Dad rented after the war, a birthday party for my sister, Gloria Neal.

Leora Darlene Wilson (born during the war) is on the left in back. Her sister Donna is in the front row looking at the camera. They were the children of Delbert and Evelyn Wilson.

I’m next in the back row, then Susan Shepherd, oldest daughter of John and Nadine (Neal) Shepherd, also born during the war. (Nadine played the organ for my folks’ wedding.) Her brother Kenny is looking at my sister Gloria, who is holding her birthday puppy.

Richard Scar, son of Sam and Darlene (Wilson) Scar and the oldest of the “Wilson cousins” is in the center back, holding his brother Dennis. Robert Scar is next. He and Richard were born during the war.

Judy Neal with the braids, daughter of Willis (Bill) and Helen Neal, was born while her dad was flying over “the Hump” during WWII. Her sister Jane is in the front, watching the crying baby.

Vincent Wells, born during the war, son of Mervin and Betty (Neal) Wells is on the end. His sister Patty is in the middle of the front row.

Emily Neal, on the right in front, is the only daughter of Grandpa Kenneth Neal’s brother MM Neal, so a cousin of my dad’s.

I guess about half of these cousins are true Baby Boomers, and the rest of us are too old for such a moniker.

90th Anniversary of the Barrow Gang Capture – Special Program Sunday

July 24, 2023, is the 90th anniversary of the infamous shootout in Dexfield Park between a posse the Barrow Gang, better known as Bonnie and Clyde.

There will be a special program by local historian Rod Stanley the afternoon of Sunday, July 23, at the Dexter Museum.

The Dexter Museum has extensive displays about the shootout, the days the gang camped at the park before the confrontation, and a large map of the mayhem the couple caused after they escaped.

A little history of the shootout.

The Dexter Museum Facebook page.

 

Four Generations at a Child’s Fourth Birthday Party

This was the fourth birthday party for my sister, Gloria Neal, who is in the center on her tricycle. Candy the Cocker Spaniel was her gift, but it looks like I took a liking to the puppy.

Not only are their four generations of my motherline in this photo, on the left are my dad’s sister, mother, and his grandmother. Two of these ladies are my grandmothers, and two are my great grandmothers!

Near Dexter, Iowa, July 1950

Betty (Neal) Wells sang at my folks’ 1943 wedding. Her children are Vincent (in front of her) and Patty (on the other trike).

Ruby (Blohm) Neal was Dad’s mother. Her folks were German immigrants, her dad was a grocer and butcher in Dexter. Grandma Ruby was famous for her quilts and crocheted afghans. And kuchen bread at Christmastime.

Nellie (Keith) Neal was Dad’s grandmother, married to O.S. Neal. They were neighbors to the Clabe and Leora Wilson family during the Depression, so most of my stories about them are from my mother. (According to my mother, who was 10 at the time, Nellie made the most wonderful ham and beans for the Wilson family when their twins died of whooping cough in 1929.) I don’t remember my great grandmother Nellie Neal, whose mother came from Ireland.

Laura (Jordan) Goff, who was born in a log cabin west of Monteith, Iowa, three years after the end of the Civil War. Great Grandmother lived with her oldest daughter, Leora, in Guthrie Center, the whole time I knew her. She died when I was a freshman in college. After her daughter died, I became the keeper of a quilt top, which I completed decades after she began it.

Leora (Goff) Wilson, whose stories are told in the “Leora books,” which takes readers through her pioneer ancestors and early years through shortly after WWII.

Doris (Wilson) Neal, Leora’s oldest daughter and Gloria’s and my mother.

Guy’s Grandma Walker’s Appliqued Tulips Quilt

One of my “past lives” was as an avid quilter. Family members seemed to like passing on scraps of fabric, miscellaneous quilt squares, and even unquilted patchwork.

The ingredients for this one came from my mother-in-law’s attic.

Her mother, Teresa (Runkle) Walker, had cut out and even basted all the tulip petals, the stems and the leaves. She had appliqued the design on over half the squares, which she’d collected in a stack.

After figuring out how many squares would be needed for a decent-sized quilt, I carefully washed everything and finished appliqueing sprigs of tulips. By then, I’d decided to give it to Guy’s sister Lois, who loves the color blue, so I found a dusty blue fabric for the sashing.

The top was set together in 1991. I hand-quilted it (my favorite part), using a quilting frame, in 1992. That June, we took the quilt to California with us to visit Lois and Dave. Lois uses the quilt on their guest bed in Concord, California.

Lois does tons of sewing on the machine but I guess she hadn’t realized that Grandma Walker and I had done ours all by hand. One of their guests gushed over her hand-made quilt.

The only thing better than an heirloom is one with a story!

Did Vaccinations Trigger My Fibromyalgia?

I recently found a list of triggers for fibromyalgia. Vaccinations was on the list and the only one that fit my timeline.

Because I was preparing for a trip to Bosnia, with a family who’d come to Iowa as refugees of their war, I began vaccinations early in order to have all three Hepatitis B vaccinations spaced as suggested. Because we would be in rural areas, with homes destroyed in the war, a typhoid shot was recommended.

So between June of 2000 and January of 2021, I had nine vaccinations. (I didn’t get the pneumonia shot until November of 2021.)

Joy, Samir, Adis (not quite 2), Zlatka (with another baby due in October), and Dzenaela (age 5). Near Skokovi, Bosnia, June 2001

 

I may have begun to have symptoms while in Bosnia, in June of 2001, sometimes going to bed early from exhaustion. But we were in a mountainous area so I figured that was why.

When we returned home, I went downhill quickly, having a puzzling and difficult summer. That August I also endured a bout of shingles. I was 56 years old.

It’s amazing that people I’ve met since that time have never known me as a well person. In spite of working with various medical people over the years, nothing has helped. I’ve lived with unwellness a quarter of my life! I’m so thankful for my husband (Guy) who has graciously seen me through all these years, giving up traveling and things he’d enjoy because I can no longer take part.

Symptoms: All-over pain (bones, muscles, joints), exhaustion (during the worst days, taking a shower was a huge undertaking), and brain fog. I’m so thankful the brain fog lifted enough a few years ago so I could write again! This last year has been challenging, but I’m not giving up.

I wanted to link the site where vaccinations was listed as a trigger, but so far I haven’t located it again.

 

Browse for Books. Authors, List You Own!

Shepherd: Browse for Books

Love to wander the aisles of bookstores? Shepherd.com is a fairly new website where you can browse books by topic. 

More than 8,000 authors have shared five of their favorite books around a topic, theme, or mood on the site. Shepherd makes it easy to find the books they recommend through a book you already love, an author you adore, or a Wikipedia topic that interests you.

You might want to check it out.

Shepherd for Authors

How does Shepherd work for authors? They feature the author and one of their books, along with five books recommended by the author around a topic or theme, along with why they recommend each of those books. Then Shepherd promotes the author, their book, and their book list throughout their website and marketing channels.

If you’re an author, choose a topic, theme, or mood in an area related to your book. By making recommendations, readers will get acquainted with your voice/personality, which may interest them in you and your book.

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I’ve created a list for all three “Leora books.” I’ll list the books I chose, but please go to the website to read why I picked them.

Best Books on Surprising and Compelling WWII History

My list: U-505 by James E. Wise, Jr.
Typhoon: The Other Enemy - Capt. C. Raymond Calhoun
Crosses in the Wind - Joseph James Shomon
LST 388: A World War II Journal - Robert Von Der Osten and daughter Barbara Von Der Osten
Soldiers' Stories, Vol. II - Myra Miller

Best Books of Surprising Stories About the Great Depression

Joe Dew: A Glorious Life - Elaine Briggs
This is Grant Wood Country - Joan Liffring-Zug
Cinderella Man - Jeremy Schapp (boxing)
WPA Guide to 1930s Iowa - Federal Writers Project
The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown

Best Books Based on Family History

The Horse Whisperers of the Anaconda - Allen Rizzi
An Old Settlers Story - Larry Dean Reese
Pioneer Girl - Andrea Warren
Two Sisters' Secret - Diane T. Holmes
Three Little Things - Patti Stockdale

It was a delight to learn that author Paul E. Kotz recently registered one of his books, and recommended Leora’s Letters as one of his five.

Later this year, Shepherd will launch a way to promote your book by sharing three of your favorites for the year. I’d enjoy getting in on that one.