Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 41

Goodreads: Meet Your Next Favorite Book

While you must spend money with Amazon in order to leave a review of a book, that’s not the case with Goodreads! Not only that but it’s a handy place to keep a list of the books you read. 

During a writing workshop, one instructor encouraged the habit of writing reviews. I don’t write long ones but, especially if the book is by a local or indie author, I make sure to encourage them with a response to their work.

It’s also easy to keep a list of books you’ve read.

Goodreads is “an American social cataloging website. . . that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists.”

Here’s how to write a book review on the Goodreads desktop site:

Navigate to the page of the book you’d like to review (you can find it by using the search bar in the header).Underneath the book’s cover image, hover over the stars until the desired number of stars is highlighted, then click on them to rate the book.A pop-up menu will appear above the stars. Click on the Write a review text.Enter your review on the following page, and click on Save to submit.

You may even follow your favorite authors on Goodreads.

Try it out. You just might enjoy it.

Mr. Connrardy, the Husband of Exira’s Famous Sewing Teacher

Alice Connrardy ran a successful sewing school in Exira, Iowa, from about 1897 until 1925. She took a sewing course in Chicago at the Baughman School for Dressmaking, then trained girls and women at her home, returning to Chicago occasionally for a refresher course.

Mrs. Connrardy wasn’t the only amazing person in her family.

Immigrant, Civil War, Audubon County Sheriff, Exira Postmaster

From his obituary: John Baptist Connrardy was born January 6, 1843, in Niederamber, Grand Duchy of Luxemborg, Germany. He died at his adopted home at Exira, Audubon County, Iowa, on Monday, November 2, 1914.

Photo of John B. Connrardy, taken in Dubuque, Iowa

John immigrated to America in 1856 with his parents and siblings, first locating in Cascade, Dubuque County, Iowa, until the Civil War. He enlisted in the 16th Regular Army in 1862. (John’s father, Nicholas Connrardy, also served in the Civil War: Co. F, 88th Ill. Inf. Regiment.)

John Connrardy relocated to Audubon County in 1868. Eleven years later he was elected County Sheriff, serving two terms. During the Grover Cleveland administration, he was Exira’s postmaster. (Cleveland was 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897, the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office.)

Mr. Connrardy married Alice Poage on February 16, 1984. They had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. Survivors: Flora, J. Walker, Lucille (Connrardy) Halloran, Kathryn (Connrardy) Simpson, Alice Clara (Connrardy) Graf.

John B. Connrardy holding his grandson, Ted Simpson.

John B. Connrardy was a member of the Eastern Star, and A.F. and A. M. of Exira [no idea what this was], a Knight Templar of Audubon, a member of the Zag-a-Zig shrine of Des Moines, a member of the Exira GAR post, as well as a member of the Congregational Church.

Findagrave pages for John B. Connrardy and Alice Connrardy. Their daughter Kathryn Connrardy m. Lafe E. Simpson. Their children were Ted E. Simpson (a WWII veteran), James Simpson, and Ramona (Simpson) Knick.

A son of Ted Simpson’s was Robert Lafayette Simpson, the father of Susie Simpson.

Photo thanks to Susie Simpson, great granddaughter of John B. and Alice Connrardy

The large Connrardy home in Exira still stands. Susie Simpson, a great granddaughter of John and Alice Connrardy, shared a picture of the “sewing school house” as it looks today.

My Grandma, then Leora Goff, attended a sewing class with Mrs. Connrardy in 1910. That story is told in Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots.

You may find the book at the libraries at both Exira and Audubon.

The 14th Fighter Group in World War II by John W. Lambert

The Book

The Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942 included the USAAF’s Lockheed P-38 equipped 14th Fighter Group. Flying long-range, high-altitude escort missions as well as low level ground support sorties, the 14th engaged in three months of grinding attrition. Another squadron arrived from the U.S. along with new P-38s and the revitalized 14th returned to the Mediterranean air war in May 1943 where they flew combat for another two years battling the German, Hungarian, Romanian, and even the Russian air forces.

The Author

I could not discover anything about the author, John W. Lambert, although he has written several important books about World War II.

My Thoughts

Eleven chapters follow the 14th Fighter Group from preparations for war, through Operation Torch, Tunisia, Sicily, and the invasion of Italy to The Grinding Finale. The book is filled with photos (even some in color), maps, appendices, and a bibliography. A very fine history of one fighter group’s contribution to driving out the Nazis from Europe.

My uncle, 2Lt. Daniel S. Wilson, and his best friend, 2Lt. Harrison E. Wold, were replacement P-38 Lightning pilots, joining the group in late 1944. Chapter 10, Workin’ on the Railroads, tells about some of their missions. Lt. Dan Wilson (37th Fighter Squadron) is pictured on page 122, with the caption that he was shot down and killed while strafing over Austria on 19 February 1945. (Harry Wold wrote me during the 1990s that he came home after the war “without a scratch on his plane.”)

Dan Wilson was one of the three Wilson brothers who lost their lives during the war. The Wilson family story is told in Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II.

 

The Early Life of a Remarkable Woman! Review of Leora’s Early Years

The Early Life of a Remarkable Woman!Five Stars!by Elizabeth Gauffreau

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.

Sounding Taps: A Duty of Remembrance

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.

Just One Person – by Paul Kotz

How amazing that one person’s poignant gesture can make such a difference. May we ask God to bless another through us each day. Here’s a story by Paul Kotz:.A year ago . . . I bought lunch at one of my “go to” places and the woman behind the counter dished out the special for the day. She smiled, and mentioned as she scooped chicken and potatoes out of the pan, that she still has the short letter I gave her displayed on her fridge..At the time, she seemed to be struggling and asked me, “Do you ever get tired of the daily grind of life? What do you do when you need a change?”.Her usual optimism, concern for others and superior customer service hit a roadblock that day, due to some problem with supply ordering and an employee conflict..I didn’t really answer her question, but took a different approach..So, in a short note, the next morning in search of a coffee, I affirmed these qualities that I admired and gave her a note that said, in no uncertain terms that she had value to all of us, and we are grateful to have her in our midst at breakfast and lunch opportunities..Mark Twain said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”.It sure doesn’t hurt to know you do something right each day..Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we could be.”.So if Emerson is right, we just want at least one person who can see our potential or existing gifts..There are so many people that do not see the joy and goodness they bring to the table of life every day..An affirmation may be all they need to get back on track.—–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.

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.

 

“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 1

This 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.

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!

Snake Oil by Rick Friday

We were cutting a load of wood when my wife, The Great Juan, told me we needed to stop so she could get cleaned up and get ready for an oil party. “An oil party?” I said, “What the heck is an oil party?” While tossing a chunk of wood in the truck she replied, “There will be oils at the party you can buy that have healing or therapeutic benefits.” While adding gas to the chainsaw I said, “I ain’t rubbing a bunch of stinky stuff all over you! Does it smell like that Old Hazel juice you spray all over yourself in the morning before work?” She bristled up and said, “You don’t like the smell of my fragrance mist?” I harshly replied, “No, that perfume gives me a headache and It smells like you’ve been at the nursing home all day playing Canasta.”.5 hours later…. I walk in the house and The Great Juan yells. “Honey, come here!” I knew what was coming so I tried to cut her off at the pass. “Juan, I can’t believe you fell for the old Snake Oil trick. You ain’t basting me with that weird oil!” I said with certainty. “Seriously,” she said with her well-known assertiveness, “Just a drop or two works wonders for stress!” She lifted my shirt and rubbed a handful of smelly oil on my belly and continued. “There ya go, this will help with your stress and digestive system.” Then she lifts my shirt higher and drops a different oil in her hand and rubs it on my chest and says with a soft voice, “This one improves your mood and alertness and is also an anti-inflammatory.” I tried to get away, but she hung on like a wood tic. “Wait! Wait!” she says while tightening the hold on my shirt. “ This one promotes scalp health and smells really good too.” Then she removes my hat and rubs it thoroughly on my bald head..I tried to break free, but she used that mother’s grip while reaching for another bottle of oil. “This one boosts your immunity system and helps with headaches and it will even give you a healthy libido if rubbed on your feet, BUT, we will put this one up for now. Here, let’s try this one.” She grabs and pinches my nose and says “Open your mouth!” Then she tosses in a little bead. “Let it dissolve in your mouth. It promotes oral health and increases your feelings of trust and bonding.” I spit and sputtered and responded with a whine, “Juan that tastes terrible!” She nervously giggled, “Whoops, wrong one. The one in your mouth reduces pain and is an insect repellant..The Great Juan had me greased up like a pie pan and smelling like a spice rack. It’s too early to know if this stuff is going to work or not, but I don’t have any chigger bites, rusty nails or a single squeak in my step..Rick Friday is a “Retired Farmer, Cartoonist & Writer reaching 1,625,000 readers, including subscriptions & newsstands.” He is also a Union County Supervisor (Iowa) and the keeper of Rosie the blind cow and her pet goat, Rodney..Check out Rick’s week morning shenanigans on Facebook!