My 50Th Class Reunion from Grammar School


Book Description

I am an original baby boomer, born in 1946, who attended a very strict Catholic Grammar School for nine years. Parents back in the early 50s, not knowing or wanting to raise their own children, made a decision to punish them into submission. Understanding came from a B.V.M. nun with a stern hand wielding a yardstick. How did we survive and how did some of us turn out? From Kindergarten, when only six year old, to thirteen, we made it through the tension and anxiety of attending St. Tarcissus Grammar School. The experience was intended to teach us the correct way to conduct ourselves. Do you think it made a lasting impression in the years ahead? Education has come a long way. Did those good Sisters know what they were doing? Did our parents play a bigger role in our up-bringing? Some of my conclusions actually make sense. The hard truth is history. Our working careers are over. From the craziness of those grammar school years comes our final report card. All of us from that graduating class of 1960 are now senior citizens. Lets find out just what happened. Planning this reunion took six months and made me think about my whole life. It made me realize that life is a struggle, but happiness can be achieved, if you work at it. My other committee member, who was supposed to help me, gave me a migraine. Would this reunion be a success or a bust? It was all on my shoulders. To be sure, it is funny, thought provoking, and I assure you, 100% true.




Secrets of the Asylum


Book Description

It's 1921, fifteen years after the disappearance of a child, and three women's lives intertwine as a web of lies unravels in a quest to solve the mystery of what happened to the boy. Elizabeth has been in an asylum since the disappearance of her son. Her daughter Meg is determined to find out why and what happened to her brother. And Abby, a Chippewa Indian fortune teller, has insight into everything that goes on in their small burgh. During an era of bootlegging, speakeasies, and changing times, their fates are woven together as their lives are forever transformed.




The Ninth Child


Book Description

The Ninth Child describes: 1. My family background dating back to the year 1870. 2. My life experiences as a Black child growing up in a family of 12 in Texas. 3. My experiences as a teacher, administrative assistant, and drug prevention counselor in the inner-city schools. 4. My religous experiences 5. Some of my unfortunate or tragic life experiences 6. Tips on how to become a millionaire or financially independent.




A 20th Century Life


Book Description

The author recounts his life growing up in a small California town in the 1940´s, serving in the Army and in the U.S. Foreign Service, on to Harvard University and becoming company President. Along the way he tells delightful and humorous stories about growing up, meeting and wedding the love of his life and his travels in 81 countries. He has exprienced more of the world than most of us and the reader travels with the author as he experiences life and explores our world. His often-adventurous life and his thought-provoking reflections on life and history, on love and grief -- and the powerful epilogue -- provide an interesting reading experience. The author is a gifted writer who conveys the joy -- and the anguish -- of life recounted with humility and gratitude. His other books are: A Journey Through Grief: Notes from a Foreign Country (ISBN: 1-4140-0283-1), A Voice of the Old West: Annie Beatrice McGee (ISBN: 1-4208-2013-3) and A Branch of a Tree: A McGee Family in History (ISBN: 978-1-4275-3126-7).




Hummingbird Memories


Book Description

Book Summary The story begins with the main character attending a 50 Year Class Reunion and then flashes back to her four years in high school. At that time she lived in a small southern California town where everyone knew everyone else, and there wasn't much for teenagers to do, and yet they manage to keep busy somehow. Life at that time (before the electronic age) went at a much slower pace, and people who grew up in the 50's and 60's were part of the last innocent generation. The book describes Elaine's relationship with her family, her life on a poultry ranch, and the closeness of a small community. It also describes many high school activities, classes, boy-girl relationships, and problems and heartaches, the euphoria and the sadness that are a part of life at that age. The story is based on an actual town and high school, and many incidents in the book actually happened the way that I described them. I did change the names of the town and the high school however. Back in those days it was much easier to work on your own car, the old hot rods and jalopies. Gas was thirty one cents a gallon, and one could buy a hamburger and Coke for less than fifty cents. But the monthly income for the average working family was only about $300, so the budget had to be stretched to make ends meet. A few women worked outside the home, but most did not. Many of the television sets were black and white, but color TV was on its way in. There was no reality TV at that time, but there were plenty of Westerns and family programming. Of course music played a huge part in the lives of young people, and it was the era of Rock and Roll. Elvis, Buddy Holly, and the Everly Brothers were household names. Dick Clark's American Bandstand was on TV in the afternoons, and everyone rushed home from school to watch the latest dances. There were only records at the time, 45's and 78's, which were played on phonographs. It would be years before cassettes, CD's, and iPods were invented. The music was portable though because everyone was getting transistor radios. If a group of kids got together at a lake or somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, they would just tune their car radios to the same station and turn up the volumne. I have tried throughout the book to portray life back in those days, with many details depicting the culture and fads of that time. I am hoping that this book will give today's teenagers a different perspective on life at that time, while giving my own generation a chance to walk down Memory Lane.




Greatest hits, 1982-2000


Book Description




African-American Education in Dekalb County


Book Description

A selfless and tireless educator, Narvie J. Harris has dedicated numerous years to the students and teachers of the DeKalb County School System. The impact she has made on this Georgia community is far-reaching--she has touched the lives of thousands through her words, her wit, and her example. In this unprecedented salute to her life and times, discover the incredible strides made in equal-opportunity education through a collection of images and memoirs, including the early Jeanes Supervisors who persevered in turbulent times to improve the quality of African-American education and the triumphant achievements of Mrs. Harris and others who dedicated countless hours to the betterment of the DeKalb County Schools.




Up the Road Less Travelled


Book Description

Author's biography from his early days on the family farm in southeast Nebraska, through service in the U.S. Air Force, gunsmithing school at Trinidad Junior College in Colorado, work as a gunsmith for seven years, earning a BS and MS in geological engineering from the University of Idaho, work for Harza Enginering, for the U.S. Bureau of Mines, plus many years of mountain climbing, big game hunting, and adventures. He lives in Wyoming after retirement.




Non-Disclosure


Book Description

In this compelling human event story, Dapra takes us on a fascinating life journey, beginning with his childhood growing up in a large Italian-American family with immigrant parents. From the military, college, and employment at the world-famous Hotel Plaza, Dapra shares vignettes of all life’s emotions. The climax is Dapra’s employment as an Inspector with the United States Marshal’s Witness Security Program in New York City—at the height of the government’s war against organized crime. Dapra also describes other protective details including the much-publicized Elian Gonzalez case. Non-Disclosure is the first sneak peek authorized by the United States Department of Justice into the secret government program, so fasten your seat belts, and don’t forget to pass the parmesan! An absolutely riveting account of the U.S. Marshal Service’s Witness Security Division during the tumultuous final decades of the twentieth century. George Dapra’s first-hand experience as a United States Marshal in the battle against the Organized Crime Syndicate and al Qaeda is as compelling as it is engaging. A truly masterful read. Colonel Cole C. Kingseed, co-author of the New York Times best-selling Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters.




West Virginia Bred


Book Description

This is the story of eight generations of one family in West Virginia, and mirrors the joy, trials, and tribulations, of that family, as it grew and matured with the state itself. The story reflects the mores and customs of the Scotch-Irish and English ancestral background of the Mitchell family as well as that of surrounding Appalachia in general.