It's a Family Thing

My latest project, the story of Marjorie and Bill Strawn, has taken over two years of reading and researching and making phone calls and writing and rewriting. And revising. And rewriting. It all began when a family approached me with a request. Could I capture the story of their mother and her exceptional life? They had read odds and ends of my other books and had in mind something similar.

So we began.

Their mother, a physician and county health director, led quite a remarkable life dedicated to serving the people of Caldwell County here in North Carolina. She passed away in 2017 and her children wanted somehow to remind the public of the impact on their everyday lives.

I started with the family, five children, Sandy, Kelly, Matthew, Anne, and Mark, six counting Rajiv, the high school foreign exchange student from Sri Lanka who lived with them for a year and then used their home as a base during his university years. As they told me family stories, I realized this was as much about their father as their mother. He passed away in 1998 leaving behind a legacy equal to his wife's. 

Although I lived in the same county, I never formally met either Marjorie or Bill, but I was definitely aware of her work at the Caldwell County Health Department. I soon found out that was only a part of the story. The family opened their hearts in telling about growing up Strawn, delightful stories that conveyed the intimate side of the story and added that personal touch to the narrative. They uploaded pictures, hundreds of pictures. And newspaper articles, hundreds of articles. 

They also helped in other ways from pointing me to a particular person to be sure to interview, or digging through tons of plaques and awards to make sure everything was covered, or uploading specific pictures to fill in the gaps. Fortunately for me, Mark is computer savvy by profession and helped me through many a glitch. Matt is an artist and contributed the cover background as well as several interior works of art. 

The launch is on what is known as First Friday, a monthly celebration showcasing  different artists associated with the Western North Carolina Society of Artisans and its Red Awning Gallery in the Hudson Uptown Building, the HUB for short. I am a member and October is my month to be featured, so why not a book launch! The Strawn sisters are coming in town together and asked what they could do besides inviting people. I'm glad they asked because I did have a specific request.  

We serve food at each First Friday, the members bringing odds and ends of delicacies to put on a spread. But since Marjorie Strawn was quite the baker, why not include a few of her specialities that are mentioned in the book. 

Marjorie Strawn busy in the kitchen

Why not add those specials to the heaping pile of food we usually have. I could make a display card with the paragraph where each food item is mentioned. We could even share the recipe. Maybe. I might be asking a little too much there, as secret family recipes do exist.

And, I added, if they really wanted to go all out, they could include their father's famous Brunswick Stew recipe that I mention several times in the book. None of the siblings, however, go hunting for squirrels in the fall, as their father did when he had the hankering for some authentic, old fashioned, recipe-from-his-grandfather, Brunswick Stew. So that will probably be a "no."

But the "yes" came when I suggested we decorate the room with picture frames of all sorts and descriptions filled with many of the photos I used in the book. My desire on the book launch of this outstanding couple is to have them front and center in more ways than just a book.

Save the date, October 7. At the HUB in Hudson, NC. 5:00 to 8:00. Do drop in.

Catch of the day, 

Gretchen