Pages From the Past; Stories from Niobrara County Homesteaders

In 1951, interviews with about a dozen pioneers in Wyoming written by June Willson (Read) were printed in the Lusk Herald.  Most of them included photographs.  After publication, they moved to family scrapbooks or faded into basements.

With interest growing in the region about local history and relative to the book Frontier Madam, Read decided to edit these interviews, and with the help of her sister, Phyllis Hahn, located photographs for the rest of the homesteaders.  

Compiled with a dictionary of terms or End Notes and a map of the area, the booklet was published in 2009 by the Niobrara County Historical Society. Booklets, priced at $5.00 plus s/h, are available at the Lusk Stage Coach Museum, Lusk, WY 82225 or Contact Me. 

You Must Remember This; a collection of memoir writing by members of the Writers’ Group of the Triad, Greensboro, North Carolina, was published in 2011.  Limited edition; a few copies are available at Contact Me, $10, plus s/h. 

Writers of this collection of memoirs cover a wide range of topics, from exploring family relationships, to observations of WWII, and way beyond.  My contribution was about my family’s use of an old homestead house moved onto our Wyoming ranch.  I had such fun ‘nesting’ there and making it home.  This is an excerpt from a chapter I am writing for my book in progress. 

Doorway to Adventure; tales of imagination, by the Children’s Writers of the Writers’ Group of the Triad, published in 2010. Copies are available at amazon.com and Contact Me, $10 plus s.h. 

Geared toward children between ages 5 and 11, and is in two sections according to age.  My contributions are about two cats who lived with me for some years – Max who loved to go into the garden and pick his own green beans, and Silky a darling little black pest who loved attention.

Candle in the Attic; Stories, Poems and Songs by members of Writers’ Group of the Triad, published in 2001.  Copies are available at Contact Me, $5.00 plus s/h.

The Children’s Writers are children at heart and enjoyed putting this together for readers age 5 through 12 or so.  Some are read alouds and others are simply written for children to read or sing.  I had two very different contributions for this book.  One is an easy reader for small children who have observed their parents cleaning the fuzz balls out – dust bunnies.  The other one is based on Cherokee teachings by giving a little bear a lovely singing voice as long as he is kind and generous.  How he loses and regains his voice is a lesson he has to learn.