Some of the children sat in risers to my right (above) while others sat with their parents in the chairs to my left and center (below).
People responded favorably to what I referred to as a special "Edgerton Connection." My publisher's founder, Milt Adams, pictured with me below, spent a summer when he was 15 yeas old working at the farm of his cousin and her husband in about 1942. As you can imagine, during that summer, young Milt learned the hard, invigorating life of a farm kid, and the memories and lessons stayed with him.
Nicknamed "Beaver" because he is constantly working, Milt started Beaver's Pond Press when he was 70 years old as a way for authors to pursue their publishing dreams.When I contacted Beaver's Pond Press to publish my stories in 2007, Milt not only saw the passion and nostalgia in my stories, but he also remembered the farm experiences of his own youth, which enabled him to believe in my efforts to preserve our farm heritage with entertaining, accurate stories of farm life. I boldly proclaim that his Edgerton experience helped him see the value in my stories.
Nancy and I wish to thank Elberta De Jager, for inviting us to Edgerton, her kind husband John for helping arrange the library set up, and all the great people who attended and made us feel welcome and at home. The people came early to greet me and Nancy and stayed late to ask questions and tell their stories. We had a fun morning.
I also got to sign lots of books, which is one of my favorite things to do.
I enjoyed listening to stories from several people that morning. In the picture above, the couple emphasized how they agree with the sentiment, "a story not told is lost forever."
Photographs by Nancy. A. Fredrickson
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