Within the pages of this book are bits and pieces of the lives of COA River House Writers. Meeting every Wednesday morning for the last five years under the guidance of Peter Guinta, they practice the art and craft of writing. After reading their memoir or short story, the group offers comments and suggestions. The process can be exhilarating, funny, or emotional.
There are 57 memoirs in this book written by 25 COA writers. Buy a copy and share these wonderful stories from the fascinating lives of your friends, the COA River House Writers.
From the introduction in the book:
The 57 pieces in Speak, Memory were written by the River House Writers, members of the St. Johns County’s Council on Aging memoir class. Since 2010, this diverse group has met weekly in the classically beautiful River House on Marine Street, St. Augustine, built next to the wide and scenic Matanzas River.
As founder and facilitator of the group, I quickly gathered that our class members wanted to write their life stories for their family and friends to read. Life experiences simply are often too difficult and complex to pass on orally.
Some of us also have other reasons for writing. We feel enjoyment in the act of telling our stories, since we’re often the only ones able to tell them. We often discover a connection to other human beings by seeing that our own lives are not so flawed or different as we had feared. And occasionally we uncover memories lost for years by hearing someone else’s story. The older we get, the more stories we have. Vignettes, memories, recollections and life passages are chances to objectively observe the “plot and direction” of our lives. We can recall our behavior in challenging situations and sometimes learn how someone else handled a similar problem, whether it be life-threatening, violent, or distressing, or a severe financial or personal loss. For veterans and those who have suffered abuse of any kind, relating their experiences helps put dangerous and intrusive memories into perspective.
Stories are the heart of all entertainment and act to transport our hungry imaginations to other nations and centuries. Author Peter Englund, in The Beauty and the Sorrow, said, “We are stuck in a confusing, chaotic and noisy reality.” And “to be right in the middle of events is no guarantee of being able to understand them.”
Most people enjoy finding documents or life stories written by their ancestors. We are intensely curious about where we’ve come from. But what people remember of our lives is often ultimately a matter of what we leave behind. Wills and letters can reveal quite a bit. Imagine that a close relative left behind a journal or diary. I’m sure you would treasure that document because it would open a window to that life.
Dr. Daniel Taylor, author of The Healing Power of Stories, believes people wish to record and evaluate the still-evolving plot of their life story.
“Did we play a meaningful role in our span of years? Sometimes we’re too close to the action to learn how important our role really was,” he wrote. “Our stories come from our families and our experiences, some so weird that they are almost unbelievable.”
Our greatest desire, greater even than our desire for happiness, is that our lives mean something. This desire is the organizing impulse for story. Delve then, into these lives of several dozen strangers. You may learn that character is more important than personality. Because we are all characters in our lives, we can choose our own defining stories.
—Editor - Peter T. Guinta - October 2014
CONTENTS
Dedication iii
Contents v
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
MEMOIRS
Solo Flight to Molokai - 1954 - Roy Bell 1
Leaving Japan - Roy Bell 5
Mother Teresa - Terry Bulla 8
Oh No, Not That - Terry Bulla 11
How I Spent My Summer Vacation- Al Castle 14
Lyon to Marseille - Al Castle 19
The Backyard Campout - Al Castle 25
Hooked - Susannah Castle 31
Tortures of the Torso - Susannah Castle 34
Betty, the Bridge and the Bear - Susannah Castle 36
Eating Crow - Roselyn Y. Cole 40
White Knuckling Over the Andes - Bob Foster 44
My First Love - Audrey Frank 48
The Bitter and the Sweet - Audrey Frank 52
The Beginning of the End - Audrey Frank 55
Starry, Starry Night - Tom Frost 60
Gingerbread Man - Tom Frost 62
A Night Fright - Isabel Garner 66
Working for Western Union - Isabel Garner 68
Snatching Baby Jesus - Peter Guinta 70
The Photo - Peter Guinta 77
Off the Red Arrow Highway - Kathy Hynes 82
Thomas O’Malley - Kathy Hynes 85
6ver There - Kathy Hynes 87
Christmas Memories - Delores Johnson 90
Living with Two Artists - Delores Johnson 92
Life as an Airline Hostess - Delores Johnson 96
Granddad Dick and the Turnips - Howard Johnson 100
The Yellow Buick Convertible - Howard Johnson 105
Sunrises and Related Experiences - Howard Johnson 110
Birthday Ride - Dale Kelleher 116
No Mixup - Dale Kelleher 118
Mary Lou's Going Away Luncheon - Bett Kelley 120
What a Difference a Day Makes - Bett Kelley 123
Camp Francis - Bett Kelley 125
Sparklings - Joan North 130
A While Longer - Joan North 133
Re-Doing Jesus - Joan North 137
My First Memory - Doris Oxford 141
Incorrigible - Doris Oxford 142
Department Store Circus - Doris Oxford 144
I Am Woman - Ray Payne 148
To Ski or Not to Ski - Ray Payne 150
Sacre Bleu! - Ray Payne 152
The Love Affair - Sharri Peelle 156
Excerpt from Against the Wind - Tim Smith 159
Excerpt 2 from Against the Wind - Tim Smith 167
Under the Chinaberry Tree - Frances Stelling 178
Late Wisconsin Spring - Frances Stelling 179
Watching Out for Each Other - Lori Thatcher 181
Chasing Cheyenne - Lori Thatcher 185
Our Class - Russell Thomas 189
Help Me, Somebody! - Barbara Vickers 190
Picnic in the Graveyard - Barbara Vickers 196
Captain Dewey - Jean Light Willis 200
Our Garden Amphitheater - Jean Light Willis 202
The Christmas Tree - Jean Light Willis 204
