Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 42

Interview by Dennis Peterson: “She Published Her First Book at Age 75!”

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.

  

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.

—–

Ghost Towns of Guthrie County

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.

Remembering Jonathan Narcisse

Jonathan Narcisse was such a gracious man. When I was just getting serious about writing, he gave me a chance to earn a byline in one of his publications. He left us way too soon.From his 2018 obituary:Jonathan R Narcisse(1963-2018)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.)

Meet Author Diane T. Holmes

I found Diane Holmes on a TV interview with “Hello, Iowa!” Here is a woman about my age, I thought, who’s written two books. We met in person at last year’s Indie Bookstore Day at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, where I learned she’s a dozen years older than I am! What a remarkable woman. Her chauffeur/husband, a career fighter pilot, says she’s hard to keep up with.

Diane was raised on an Iowa farm. After high school she attended the American Institute of Business in Des Moines and married a high school classmate, Lyell, a career Marine Corps officer who flew helicopters and jets. They raised two daughters and a son while moving from state to state. Diane also worked for a large school district supervising their workers’ comp and insurance programs. She’s been through the devastating loss of an adult daughter.

You might find her books as compelling as I did. One is her memoir. The other is a novel woven out of a family mystery.

Uprooted: Family Is Where You Find It

Diane Holmes describes in her memoir, Uprooted: Family Is Where You Find It, what it’s like being born in 1932, the middle of the Great Depression. She writes about WWII through the eyes of a child helping the war efforts on the home front – victory gardens, war bonds, rationing books, and sacrificing.

Diane tells readers what she experienced in her military life being married to a career officer who flew helicopters and jet fighters and spent two tours in Vietnam. She explains how they dreaded the separations but made things work by buying two small recorders and sending tapes back and forth. She smiles and frowns, telling about raising kids moving from duty station to duty station, searching out good schools at each place. She describes going back to college to update skills then entering the workforce after nearly 25 years being away.

Holmes enjoys sharing with readers special Christmas celebrations during her lifetime. And she ends her memoir, Uprooted: Family Is Where you Find It, telling readers how she dealt with a devastating loss.

My Thoughts: This memoir, which covers the author’s life from the Great Depression and WWII until now, will especially resonate with military families. Her husband was a career Marine jet pilot, so frequent moves and separations were common, along with the sensation of being uprooted. She eventually returned to college and the workforce. Now decades later she has written two books!

Two Sisters’ Secret

From author, Diane Holmes, comes a story inspired by the life of her grandmother, Bernadine. In this work of historical fiction, the relationship between Bernadine and her older sister Elizabeth is complicated. Bitterness between them develops when Elizabeth asks Bernadine to keep a deep dark secret about her past. Later, Bernadine must endure betrayal when Elizabeth moves to West Virginia and leaves her behind. The story gives a detailed look at Bernadine’s life as she matures, marries, and raises a large family on an Iowa farm, always harboring bittersweet feelings for Elizabeth.

Two Sisters’ Secret is not just the personal story of Bernadine and Elizabeth but the story of rural America at the turn of the century and beyond – the days of horse-powered farm machinery and transportation, the transition to electric lights and telephones, the sadness, fear, and loneliness of an immigrant in the United States, and the very real hardship of the Great Depression.

My thoughts: This is a family story that needed sharing, about sisters who immigrated from Germany. The much younger one (Bernadine) was so ambivalent about leaving their home country, about being left behind in Iowa when the older sister (Elizabeth) married and moved away. Even after marrying and having so many children of her own, then widowed, Bernadine struggled.

Bernadine’s life became even more fascinating after she married a man who wasn’t really as she’d thought. And there were unpleasant surprises with two adult daughters. By then, I’d forgotten about the original secret, so when it was revealed, it came as a surprise. Well done, Diane T. Holmes!

Here is Diane’s website.

Make Memories by Glenn Stoutt

Glenn Stoutt wrote this for his grandchildren, but it’s great for us all to make part of our own lives.To our beautiful grandchildren…Make memories…          Because there’ll be some point(s) in your life you’re going to lose someone and wish you had made memories when they were here with you…–Be spontaneous…          Those are the memories that will stand out and last a lifetime…–Be adventurous…          Those are the memories that you will want to share the most with the ones you love…–Be courageous…          Those will be the memories that will remind you of how much you grew through all of those (life) challenges that were thrown at you…–Be a blessing…         Those are the memories that someone else will remember (about you) that they will share with others who need to hear…–Be happy…          Those are the memories that your brain (health) will love the most and so will the people around you…–Be patient…          Those are the memories you will remember where God was guiding you…–Be Love…          Those are the memories that will be your legacy…–1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.–So, no matter where you are in your life’s journey, never give up because God wants you to fulfill the amazing potential He has in store for you…–And know that your nonna and nonno always love each and every one of you.

Kids Played Marbles with their Superintendent

Playing Marbles

The spring of 1936, Junior and Dale Wilson played marbles with several others during dinner break at school. Dale, a freshman at Dexter High School, had won about forty of them by the end of March.

Even Superintendent Clampitt played once in a while, “but he just gets beat,” Dale reported to his older brothers who’d been in the Navy more than two years. (He also told them that two more Dexter boys were joining the navy, making fifteen from a town of fewer than 800 souls.)

As a boy, Wesley Clampitt had gone to Frog Pond country school in Guthrie County with Clabe Wilson.

At the end of March, sixth grader Junior wrote his brothers that he and Dale had collected 170 marbles all together, playing the game at school. Dale reported that about 70 of them are ones he won. “The kids sure do play a lot of marbles, at morning and noon they play down in the [school] basement.”

I’ve become the keeper of some of the Wilson brothers’ marbles. I hope some of them are in this jar. They came from Grandma Leora’s house, but she also had a “marble game,” essentially a slide for them to roll down, turn a corner, roll some more, to the bottom. Little kids enjoyed the noisy thing.

The library table under the mason jar was in the entryway of her little house in Guthrie Center. There are stains and buckled areas where a plant had been overwatered. It followed her to Guthrie Center from her mother’s home in Dexter, then to Minburn and Perry. It originally came from the Goff Victorian house in Guthrie Center, where there were two of them. My mother, as a preschooler, played on the platform underneath the desk.

These days the old mission style library table holds a lamp in our front window.

This is what the library must have looked like when it was new.

Here are different ways the game of marbles is played.

While searching for how to play the game, I ran across this delightful memoir by a man who also played the game during the Depression in east Des Moines. At least for these city boys, playing marbles was a serious business, with rules and even their own language. What a gem! The Real Rules for Playing Marbles in a Bull Ring: East Des Moines, Iowa Circa 1930 by Carl Ringwall, Sr. is only available as an ebook.

—–

There are more tales in Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression.

 

The Scent of the Century: JOY

This photo started the rabbit trail on the history of the fragrance.

The Scent of the Century

Mom wanted to delight me with this little bottle of genuine JOY perfume when I became a mother. The, uh, aroma gave me such a headache. I’ve saved the treasure ever since 1974, but I’m still leery of even a little whiff of it. 

One photo started a delightful rabbit trail, because what I do enjoy about this little bottle of expensive perfume is its history.

The American press called Jean Patou the most elegant man in Europe. He created his own fashion house in 1914, but the Great Depression caused the market for luxury fashion to collapse. Created in 1929 by perfumer Henri Almeras in 1929, JOY was introduced in 1930. Even though pricy, it became a success, saving Patou’s company. It remains their most famous fragrance.

Voted by the public in the 2000 Fragrance Foundation FiFi Awards, JOY was chosen the “Scent of the Century.”

According to Fragrantica.com, “The nose behind this floral fragrance is [perfumer] Henri Almeras. Top notes are Bulgarian Rose, Ylang-Ylang and Tuberose; middle notes are Jasmine and May Rose; base notes are Musk and Sandalwood.”

I confess that this Iowa farm girl prefers the aroma of recently mown hay to expensive fragrances. But my little bottle of JOY is another winsome heirloom with a story.

Mother’s Day 1976, Dan was 17-months old, and I was 30 years older than that. Aurora, Colorado. (We moved back to Iowa that December.) (BTW, I sure enjoyed when that shag haircut was in style!)You know what my husband thought it was at first glance.

Georgia Wilson’s House at Panora Still Stands

Among the papers of the mother of Clabe Wilson, was the address of her house in Panora, where she lived with her younger daughters after she was widowed.

One one of our family history excursions, in 1996, Mom and I started at the City Hall in Panora.  A large map of the original town hangs on one wall, with the old addresses. The woman there determined that the new address of the house, which is still standing.

I haven’t included the address since folks live there on a narrow busy street. They may not enjoy having “Clabe and Leora tourists” checking them out!

Clabe and Leora Wilson, probably the year they were married (1914) in front of his mother’s house in Panora. This photo is on the cover of Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots.The house in Panora, Iowa, taken August 1, 1996. A vehicle was parked in front of the house, so I took the best photo I could that day.

Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots

Georgia Wilson’s Panora house is on the cover of the book.

You gotta take the pencil sharpener

by Chad ElliottGrandpa Alma Blair called me on my birthday Monday. He told me he was proud of me and was excited about the new art studio. He also urged that I shouldn’t waste time and energy thinking about the house I just left. It was the house he and Grandma built for the family many years ago.He said, “You can’t get stuck in life. You have to go with the changes. Don’t sit still.”After all of this he wisely added, “But I hope you took the pencil sharpener.”I learned how to draw on the floor of my family gatherings. I used this pencil sharpener thousands of times as a kid.It is built well. It has seen lots of use over the years.I had nearly forgotten about it, until my brother Eric Elliott and I were walking the rooms one last time. He saw it and said, “You gotta take the pencil sharpener.”He, too, understood the significance of this sharpener to me as a kid.I love my family. They get me. They see the big picture.So…this old sharpener will be installed at the new Elliott Art Studio .Only a couple days left to pitch in. Thanks so much! Keep your pencil sharp.P.S. Happy Birthday Grandpa!—–Scroll down through Chad’s creative offerings. (The one of the meadowlark on the post is mine!)https://www.kickstarter.com/…/renovating-elliott-art…

Searching for the Missing, Decades Later–Two Books by Kenneth Breaux

Recently I’ve read two books about families, similar to my own, needing to find out what happened to a loved one who was lost during WWII. Those losses leave a hole for decades, affecting several generations. Kenneth Breaux has written two compelling books about poignant searches and their outcomes.

Courtesies of the Heart

The Book: The author takes the reader on a compelling odyssey, beginning with a wartime mystery which endured for nearly sixty years. A compelling and often gripping story of loss and discovery.

The Author: Kenneth Breaux graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1966 and was commissioned as a Naval Officer that same year. After leaving active duty, he served on a variety of vessels and concluded his career as commanding officer of a Reserve Training Group with the rank of Commander. He has worked as a corporate training developer, planning and project manager and is retired from EDS Corp.

He holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and has attended the Naval War College. In retirement he created a not-for-profit company, the M.I.A. Recovery Network, which serves as a focal point for identification and recovery of the 74,000 remaining missing in action from World War II and advocating for families of the missing. He is the author of two other books, Courtesies of the Heart, the history of an MIA recovery, and Transforming! How Managers Become Leaders.

My Thoughts: A P-51 pilot is lost in Germany but not located by the Americans for decades. He left a widow and a baby daughter, who feels his absence her whole life. The area where he fell became part of East Germany, so was inaccessible for decades. But one local man buried his remains and cared for the grave for years. This is the amazing story of how several people, speaking three different languages, eventually became a “society of the heart” through the internet and in person. The P-51 pilot’s remains are brought home for a military burial. Just incredible.

Known But to God: America’s 20th Century Wars and the Search for the Missing

also by Kenneth Breaux

The Book: There are many books written about epic battles, heroic soldiers and the remarkable events that occur during a war. This book contains little of that history. This book is about the more than 70,000 men who remain missing after America’s wars. Their names appear in our cemeteries, on gravestones marked “unknown,” on commemorative walls listing the missing or simply in after-action reports inadequate to the task of declaring a life at an end. Americans are sensitive to the injustice and incompleteness of such records. So, the United States is the only country publicly committed to searching for missing warriors’ remains and to identifying and finally honoring them. This commitment has been inconsistently fulfilled, however, and results have been mixed. This book shows how modern warfare loses its dead in ways that make them harder than ever to find after battle. It tells the story of families who never give up hope and of the volunteers and officials who try to help them. But it’s also the story of how our government too often has failed to make finding the missing possible — and what we can do about it.

My Thoughts: This important book includes chapters on the history of how US war casualties were taken care of, providing overseas cemeteries beginning with WWI. Several stories describe locating old burial grounds and the work to identify the missing. Some are never solved. One especially poignant was of a site that ended up in East Germany, where Americans weren’t allowed to even search. The Bibliography and Appendices are especially helpful.

Please visit Kenneth Breaux’s Amazon Author Page.