Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 40
February 27, 2023
The Early Life of a Remarkable Woman! Review of Leora’s Early Years
Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots is the third book I’ve read by Joy Neal Kidney featuring her maternal grandmother Leora Goff Wilson. What I’m finding particularly intriguing is that the three books tell the story of Leora’s life in reverse chronological order, starting with the trauma of losing three of her five sons in World War II (Leora’s Letters), then going back in time to the Great Depression when Leora and her husband Clabe struggled to keep their family housed and fed (Leora’s Dexter Stories), and now, in Leora’s Early Years, her childhood, extended family, and antecedents.
With each book, I have gained further insights into this remarkable woman’s life and character, how she could stay strong and well-grounded when faced with so much adversity and personal heartache. As a reader, I have the sense that I’ve been following Kidney’s own quest to discover the answer to this same question after learning of the death of her three young uncles in World War II. I am grateful to her for seeking out Leora’s story and sharing it with the world in three well-written and engaging books. Coming to know Leora through her granddaughter’s books has enriched my own life, and coming to know Guthrie County through these books means I no longer consider Iowa a “fly-over state.”
Leora’s Early Years is further proof that Joy Neal Kidney is a master story-teller. She seamlessly weaves creative nonfiction with multiple primary sources, including postcards, newspaper stories, photographs, and Leora’s written accounts of her earliest memories.
The book is a well-structured and enjoyable read. The majority of the short chapters discuss major life events for the family, such as births, deaths, and marriages. Other chapters chronicle major events for the country and their impact on Leora’s family, including World War I, the Spanish Influenza pandemic, and the Nineteenth Amendment. Interspersed throughout the book are lighter family anecdotes, such as “The Jail Escapade” and “Clabe Bobs His Wife’s Hair” (two of my favorite chapters). The book also gives a good sense what daily life was like for average families in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth.
In addition to highly-recommending Leora’s Early Years across a wide spectrum of readers, I also highly-recommend it for book clubs, libraries, and history courses. A list of thought-provoking questions is included in the back of the book to facilitate discussion.
Liz is an encourager of many writers. She’s also the author of Telling Sonny (a novel) and Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. Please check out her website.
February 25, 2023
Sounding Taps: A Duty of Remembrance
This is not a book to be read quickly. Expect to laugh a little and sometimes cry and to stop and reflect on the ordinary men and women who didn’t know they were heroes. Sounding Taps is the journey of a man who learned to play the bugle to honor those people and the ones he discovered along the way. Each chapter is the memory of an unheralded military veteran who could have been laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Instead, all but one lies in peace in small town or mostly forgotten country graveyards. For some, the visit by this lone bugler is probably the first time since the Civil War or another military service uniquely their own that their ghosts have heard these haunting notes. It also is a salute to those who continue the tradition of honoring our veterans with their service on funeral details. Try as we might, sometimes all we can do is remember and honor that memory and Sounding Taps does that..About the Author Robin Turnerwritten by Bugles Across America Founder Tom Day:
Robin Turner“I’m honored to introduce Robin Turner. Forgive the pun: he didn’t come to the author’s world to toot his own horn. And while I confess I’ve never met him in person, I’ve kept abreast of his adventures with “Buzz” Bugle sounding Taps on behalf of hundreds of fallen—not forgotten—everyday heroes. He’s the quintessential Bugles Across America volunteer, carrying on the tradition of rendering the honors to those who’ve put on the uniform to serve our country through many generations. When he and “Buzz” step up, there’s no battery to blame for failure, no computer chip or disc to hold accountable. No, when Robin steps up, the 24 notes of Taps truly come from his heart. He wrote this book to share his remembrances and to give back to an organization in which he’s found such fulfillment: Bugles Across America.”
Honor the sound; Sound the honors
2023 Note from the Author: “We went public with Sounding Taps: A Duty of Remembrance a year ago. To those who took the leap of faith and ordered a copy: Thank you! The feedback has been heartwarming, sales far exceeding our expectations.
“That said, Sounding Taps was never a commercial effort, nor am I interested in laying claim to the title, author. I’m just a lone bugler, the collector of stories. And the book, as beautiful as it is (thank you, Smith Publishing Company), is just my part in a national effort to provide real buglers to sound Taps at military funerals at no cost to families of the fallen or the government. With all due, true heartfelt respect to those who’ve had no alternative to using a boombox or digital recording of the soldier’s last lullaby, this is a reminder that every single soldier, sailor, airman, and marine at one time selflessly pledged their life on our behalf. Not one was digital. So, too, then must be the sweetest of all bugle calls, Taps..“With Memorial Day approaching, please check out our website (www.robinsbook.com) or head for Amazon.com and consider giving a copy of Sounding Taps: A Duty of Remembrance to your favorite veteran, a member of your local honor guard, or volunteer bugler. I promise, every single dollar raised is given to Bugles Across America, a 501(c)3 charity dedicated to honoring the sound.”
My thoughts: This is a beautiful book to savor, story after story. The author was bothered at a burial service by “an undignified, electronic bugle rendition of something that sounded like Taps.” A veteran himself, Robin Turner learned to play the bugle. He was so moved by the experience of sounding Taps that he visited several cemeteries to seek out veterans’ gravesites to honor them with the soulful cry of his bugle and a salute. A poignant reminder of those Americans who’ve served our nation.
February 23, 2023
Just One Person – by Paul Kotz
Dr. Kotz is a lifelong learner with education and business expertise. This includes working as faculty and advisor with undergraduate, graduate students and since 2013, in a doctoral program in leadership. Kotz has taught and served as an executive coach to graduate students and business professionals; and has assisted high school students in navigating adolescence..
In 2020, he published Profiles in Kindness – an award winning CIPA/Reader’s Choice Award for motivation & inspirational leadership. In 2018, he released the CIPA Award winning Something Happened Today, addressing seeing the goodness in everyday life even in the face of adversity. In 2014, he published Personality, Gender and Learning Styles for students and practitioners. His newest book is Start Late – Finish Happy. He is a resident of Saint Paul, Minnesota and continues to collect new experiences that shape and challenge his perspectives..Please check out Paul’s delightful books on his Amazon Author Page. (These would be such welcome gifts for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.)He has narrated several winsome stories on Our American Stories, which you may find here.
February 22, 2023
Only Sixteen Miles, but Redfield Hill was a Challenge
This modern map says that it takes about 21 minutes to drive from Dexter to Adel on Old Highway 6.
The Clabe and Leora Wilson family lived near Old Highway 6, during the Great Depression. The stretch of White Pole Road, which was its historic name, was paved through Dexter in 1929, during the 1930s, the trip to the county seat of Dallas County was a little quicker, but even traveling to Redfield and back in a loaded Model T was challenging in those days.
When Clabe Wilson worked at the Redfield Brick and Tile plant, only seven miles away, he carpooled for the trip to Redfield. On the way north there is a large dip in the road, but a Model T could make a run for it on the downhill side, enough for it to make it to the top. Closer Redfield, they could coast down Redfield hill just fine.
Coming home could be a problem, because they had to make good speed on a straight away headed to Redfield hill.
The trip to Adel was nearly twice as far, but much more challenging on a used, single-speed bicycle. Dale Wilson bicycled to the county seat five times the summer before his senior year. His goal was to earn money that June from a bounty on crows and starlings. He had to turn in their feet as proof, from 254 bird pests. Five times at 32 miles round trip. Quite an undertaking for a 17-year-old, especially facing Redfield hill on the way home each time.
A photo of the family to send their “Navy boys,” April 1935, Dexter, Iowa. Back: Dale, Leora (their mother), and Darlene (Dale’s twin). Middle: Clabe (their dad) and Doris (with her machine perm?). Junior and Danny are in front.The slowest way to travel between Dexter and Redfield was on foot. Dale’s older sister Doris had earned enough money babysitting and such to get a machine perm for her straight hair. She and her mother got a ride to Redfield, where a woman gave those perms, hoping to hitchhike home with someone from Dexter who’d recognize them.
Well, no one recognized them so the walked the entire seven miles. Both women were sturdy but Leora had on her good shoes. They did fine hiking up Redfield hill, but the one with the wide dip was rough on Leora’s feet as they slid into the toes of her good shoes. They made it home, but Leora’s toenails eventually blackened and came off.
You may find more memories along Old Highway 6, including Stuart stories, in Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression.
February 20, 2023
“An Evening With Carl Sandburg,” State College of Iowa, 1963
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning poet Carl Sandburg, then age 85, was a guest performer at the State College of Iowa in Cedar Falls when I was a freshman. Sixty years ago.
From “The College Eye,” February 22, 1963, page 1This sold-out concert, “An Evening With Carl Sandburg,” according to the February 15, 1963 edition of The College Eye, was a special addition to the scheduled 1962-63 Lecture Concert Series.
“Mr. Sandburg’s visit to campus will probably mark his last tour in the Midwest,” said Dr. Howard Jones, committee chairman.
Carl Sandburg’s concert of reciting poetry, lecture and singing folk songs was held February 22, 1963, in the old Auditorium.
Mary Furlong, Feature Editor of The College Eye, wrote in the March 1 edition that Carl Sandburg was relaxed during the concert, “with a blanket spread over his lap, his long white hair slipping down.”
Sandburg’s biography, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1940.
He won the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his Complete Poems.
The amazing thing was that I was there that night. Carl Sandburg may be the most famous man I’ve seen in person, other than two U.S. Presidents. Certainly he is the only one with a Pulitzer Prize. Or two.
February 17, 2023
Please join me at Beaverdale Books, in person or via their Facebook page
This will be my first time to give a presentation at Beaverdale Books. Their Facebook page will also stream it live, beginning at 6:30 Monday evening, February 20.
Please join me to hear how world events reached right into the American Heartland, disrupting the lives of Clabe and Leora Wilson’s family.
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“. . . . Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots continues the beloved series of meaningful genealogical explorations by Kidney. This is Little House on the Prairie meets Our Town: intimate appeal from a personal narrator making Heartland history come alive.
“‘Leora’ is a one-name trigger for memoir magnificence in central Iowa. The ripples created keep expanding, inspiring others through the rich vibrancy of her voice. Readers gain a deeper understanding of family, community and legacy through these pages. . . .”
–from John Busbee’s book review in the Jan./Feb. 2023 issue of Iowa History Journal. Creative projects developer John Busbee received the 2014 Iowa Governor’s Award for Collaboration & Partnership in the Arts, produces The culture Buzz weekly radio program since 2007 and is a regular contributor to Iowa History Journal.
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Our favorite indie bookstore, Beaverdale Books, also features one whole wall of books by Iowa authors!
February 16, 2023
Snake Oil by Rick Friday
.Check out Rick’s week morning shenanigans on Facebook!
February 15, 2023
Interview by Dennis Peterson: “She Published Her First Book at Age 75!”
I’m excited today to present a guest post by Joy Neal Kidney, who published her first book at age 75. Since that time, she’s published two sequels to that first title, and she’s working on more to come. Her example is proof that age and physical problems need not be a hindrance to those who have a compelling story to tell.
Joy is the chronicler of her family’s history. Her first book, Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family during World War II, told of five of her uncles who served during World War II. But only two of those men lived to return home. . . .
Joy’s other two books tell the stories of the family before World War II, pioneering stories and stories of perseverance during the Great Depression.
In the following post, Joy tells us how she, starting at the young age of 75, did it. And continues to turn out those books. Her experience and example remove many of our own excuses for not writing our stories.
Enjoy her post. Learn from it. Then act upon it by writing your own stories!
PUBLISHING MY FIRST BOOK AT AGE 75
Those of us who have garnered several decades of living and gained perspective are valuable carriers of family stories and history. It’s never too late to begin sharing them.
If you have something that needs to be written and shared, you can do it. Age doesn’t matter.
Until I had a story that needed telling, I didn’t get serious about writing, but I knew that my writing technique needed an overhaul. I began taking Writer’s Digest magazine, reading books about writing, and attending the Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa several summers.
Meanwhile, I was researching World War II. Five brothers, uncles of mine, served. Only two came home. When their mother, my Grandma Leora, died, I didn’t even realize that two of the brothers aren’t buried in the family plot at Perry, Iowa. I didn’t know what New Guinea had to do with the war. I didn’t know the difference between a B-25 and a B-29.
I joined reunion groups in order to correspond with men who knew one of the brothers, or at least had served in the same unit. During the 1990s, I began writing essays for newspapers and magazines. When I was paid for them, I knew I was on the right track!
I’ve dealt with fibromyalgia for two decades. The worst was when I couldn’t write because of the brain fog. As it began to lift, I started a website and attended writing conferences, still with the goal of eventually telling the World War II story of the five brothers. A website is a wonderful way to begin to share one’s stories. My early posts usually started with an old photo.
I also joined an online writers’ group where I could “meet” people and ask questions. That’s how I met Robin Grunder, who became my coauthor on the first book, Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family during World War II. By then, I could afford to hire an editor and someone to design the cover and do the formatting.
I didn’t publish that first book until I was 75 years old. That was three years ago. The third one came out [last] fall. [Joy’s other two books are Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression and Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots.]
Leora Wilson was an ordinary woman who became remarkable because of the tragedies she survived and who flourished as an older woman. I’ve been so blessed by working with her stories and am thankful to be able to share them.
Agewise, I’m an older woman, too. I grew up among the family members, not thinking about their elderliness. Grandma Leora, my mother, and her sister all lived to the age of 97!
But something in me is not old. The writer in me still flourishes. My fourth book is under way, with notebooks for three or four more others started, as God allows me to keep at this writing thing.
If you write, you’re a writer. Tenacity trumps talent. If you have a story that needs telling, get busy with it. Regardless of your age or physical difficulties.
* * * * *
Dennis: Thank you, Joy, for this inspiring post! Now we readers need to act on it by writing our own families’ stories.
You can learn more about Joy and her books by visiting her website at https://joynealkidney.com/.
Please visit the website of Dennis Peterson. The links to his compelling tales on Our American Stories is the header to his website. He grew up in East Tennessee and lives in South Carolina. You’ll hear those delightful influences in his stories.
February 13, 2023
Morrisburg Cemetery, the Poem, the Family Stories
The beginning of Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots is enhanced by the poem, “Morrisburg Cemetery,” by Nicholas Dowd, who grew up in Guthrie Center. Grandma Leora knew his father, who was the town pharmacist at Dowd Drug.
Morrisburg Cemetery“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. . . ” I Peter 1:24-25
At the edge
Of the Stuart Road
Sleep the Morrisburg souls.
A hilltop town
Flourishing for a time,
Before splintering
In a storm.
Without warning
Their time came.
Now years of serenity
Cover them
On this high curve.
Decades of summers
Shelter these souls.
A community of friends
Stilled, and now settled
Patiently at rest,
Men, women, children
awaiting the archangel call.
He will find them all
Here, south of Panora
Amid the tallgrass drifts.
— Nicholas Dowd (2014)
Clabe Wilson’s mother, Georgia, was a member of the nearby Morrisburg church and was buried in the nearby cemetery in 1917. Her pioneer parents and several other relatives are buried there.
The town was laid out in 1855 and was on a stagecoach route. The railroad didn’t include Morrisburg, so the town didn’t grow. When a tornado destroyed the little town on those rolling hills in 1871, the population dwindled, some moving to Dale City.
The church and cemetery are six miles north of Stuart on P28, 8 miles south of Panora on the same road.
Tombstone for John Williams (1807-1828) and Harriet Chilcoate Williams (died 1896). The stone has been updated.Georgia Williams Wilson, was born in Dale City in 1964. Her sisters, Serepta and Edna Alice, were also born there in 1859 and 1872. Edna and Georgia are buried at Morrisburg, as are their parents, Samuel and Martha Williams, their grandparents John and Harriet (Chilcoate) Williams, as well as several aunts and uncles (who had been born in Ohio).
The homestead of Samuel and Harriet Williams was a mile west of the Morrisburg Church.
—–I knew that my great grandmother, Georgia Williams Davis Wilson, was buried at Morrisburg. It felt lonely, since her husband Daniel Wilson is buried at Coon Rapids among the Wilsons.But recently a genealogist has been collecting information about Georgia Wilson’s descendants. He told me that there are at least thirty Williams relatives buried at Morrisburg. So Great Grandmother Georgia is among family.I had just re-savored Nick’s poem about the cemetery so asked if I could share it, along with the verse he began with. Ever gracious, he said, “Of course. That would be wonderful.”A poignant blessing.—–
Nick Dowd also wrote the poem “Meadowlark” that introduces Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II.
February 11, 2023
Remembering Jonathan Narcisse
Jonathan Ray Narcisse was born on August 29, 1963, to Fred Lee Narcisse, Sr. and Gaynelle Parkey Narcisse in Des Moines, Iowa..Jonathan was educated in the Des Moines Public School System. He attended Grant and Edmonds Elementary Schools; Callanan Junior High School, and Des Moines Technical High School where he graduated with honors, in the upper 3% of this class in 1981. He also lettered in Tennis..Jonathan continued his education at Regis Jesuit College in Colorado. While attending Regis he made the Dean’s List several times and was a member of the boxing team. He also joined the Air Force ROTC branch at the University of Denver..Jonathan met Dawn Tolefree during a meeting in Des Moines on Halloween of 1992, that ended with a slice of pie. This sparked a whirlwind courtship for a year and then marriage in November of 1993. With their marriage, Jonathan became a father to Johnce Tolefree, Integrity, and Perserverance Narcisse. He also became a loving grandfather of 9. Though the marriage ended in 2011, Jonathan and Dawn supported each other and co-parented together until death. Jonathan wanted the best for his family and ensured that it was possible always remaining close to all of them..Jonathan’s career was driven by his entrepreneurial spirit. Upon leaving college he became an ordained minister, was an intern in Washington D.C.; worked several odd jobs that led him to the newspaper business. Acquiring the Iowa Bystander, which led him to create The Communicator along with a couple of Spanish language publications and a number of smaller local publications spanning 30 plus years. During this time he also ran for the Des Moines City Council, served on the Des Moines School Board, and was the first Black in the history of the state of Iowa to run on the ballot for Governor – twice. He supported many candidates running for various political offices in the state of Iowa and started a third party – The Iowa Party. As if that was not enough, Jonathan hosted a radio program “The Wake Up Show” on KUCB. A program that alerted listeners to what was going on in the community and gave a voice to many in the Black community..Jonathan was an avid chess player. He was introduced to the game by his brother Fred; playing for 50 cents a game losing many times in the beginning. Over the years his skills improved. One of Jonathon’s proudest chess accomplishments occurred in the year 1976, when he was 12 years old. He was victorious over his brother Fred 70 consecutive games. Jonathan went on to compete in many local and state competitions and was even a state champion..Jonathan used the precepts of chess in many other aspects of his life. From golf, baseball, wrestling, dancing, basketball, coaching and bowling. If it was a sport, he played it or appreciated it. Some of his other hobbies included board games, fantasy sports, watching and participating in political debates and cultivating political action plans alongside other community activists. Jonathan was a unique individual with a brilliant mind. This combination made him a lightning rod for controversial issues. But he NEVER ran from a debate..Jonathan is survived by his mother Gaynelle Narcisse, son Johnce(Ashley)Tolefree; daughters Integrity and Perseverance Narcisse all of Des Moines, Iowa; brother Fred L. Narcisse, Jr. Sisters Gaylene A. Narcisse; Tonia F. (Lester) Richardson all of Des Moines, Iowa; niece Deseree (Calvin) Jones; of Des Moines, Iowa; nephews Allen (Sonata) Narcisse of Los Angeles, California and Brandon Richardson of Des Moines, Iowa; 9 grandchildren, 3 great nieces, and a host of uncles, aunt, cousins, friends and acquaintances.—–“Always operating under the philosophy that if he took the hits and let others take the credit a great deal could be accomplished.” (From Jonathan’s run for Iowa Governor.)
