| Reader Comments for Every Memory A Story |
| Just
received "Every Memory A Story." A colossal piece of work.
It fills the deep holes of my past, and I can't thank you enough. Questions abound - 'till later. - George Grider, Nashville, Tennessee "Dreams of John"; "Conversations with the Colonel" Got the book! Great write up, appreciate it. Cheers, Rhino - Richard ("Doc") Wyttenbach-Santos, Ph.D., Beaverton, Oregon Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.) "Gold Star Son" I got it! Now the problem begins. How the heck am I ever going to be able to put this book down? I haven’t been able to put it down since it arrived early today. I am blown away by the quality, content, and creativity that went into this creation. standby ! I know that the comments that will come flowing out of my head will have to find a way to impact you! How the heck do you remember all this great stuff? Wow! Fun reading! Fantastic effort, Mike! I cannot imagine what it took to develop this collection.and……. Now you are cutting into my reading time! Good evening! - Doug Tozour, Hilton Head, South Carolina "Trane Tracks" I'm writing to offer congratulations and to thank you for the copy of your new book. The book is well done. I particularly like the title. I can only admire the amount of effort that went into the writing and publication of it. - Steve Duncan "Battleship Telephone" Thanks for the latest installment of the Blackledge history saga. Enjoyed the photos, seeing Mother’s memories of Red Cloud, Julie on Chickering piano. Christopher Hitchens at Sacre Coeur is a bit of a stretch, but obviously you enjoyed assembling this group. all the best to you and Bonnie - Margaret "Meg" Pearson "Recollections of Red Cloud" Your book arrived. Great job! How many hours did you labor to complete it? Thanks, - Ken Sanger, Sandpoint, Idaho "Roux and Me" Got your books. Thanks. I have barely flipped through at this point. However, question about the cover photo. How is it that you would be in a photograph with Amis, Hitchens, etc. And, of course, you didn’t have white hair in 1979. I see no explanation of this in the discussion of the photo. Can you enlighten me? - Travis Broesche "Life with Jim Crow" Lamar HS Class of 1959 Travis: The enlightenment clue is on the copyright page. Another story! The photo of Hitch and friends is iconic, and when we went to Paris in May 2019, I forced our group to walk up Montmartre to the Basilica Sacré Coeur. I knew the balcony there was where the photo had been taken. We took many photos, and later Genoni’s son Tommy (another big Hitchens fan) photoshopped it together. For the next two years, that photo was the lead in for the last Thursday Book Club webpage. This was not planned, but one could argue that the front cover and the back cover of EMAS are examples of artificial intelligence. Thanks for asking about it, you are the only one who has! Mike The four copies arrived today at 11, right on schedule! Since then, I've been reading about Mike's challenging first year as a plebe at the Naval Academy as well as Travis's painful recollections of the 1950's Jim Crow era in Houston. Mike, I can't imagine how may hours you devoted to this compilation of stories, but must say you rounded up some interesting and well-qualified contributors. Thanks, - Larry Hitt Hitt & Associates, Inc Lamar HS Class of 1959 Larry delivered my copy of "Every Memory A Story" to me at our Lamar lunch today. When I got home I read your 2 page introduction "Every Memory A Story", & then "I've Had A Good Life" about Patti written by Richard Blide. There will be a lot of life lessons to learn. I can tell I'm going to enjoy the read. And personally signed by the anecdotographer himself. Travis was at the lunch today and I just noticed - and read his story "Life With Jim Crow". I (like Travis) used to ride the Houston City busses back in the early 50s by myself (or lots of times with my then next door neighbor, Joe Keathley). I was probably 10 or 11. Rode on the "Westheimer #82" bus back and forth from downtown Houston to the Shepherd/Westheimer stops. We used to take the bus to attend the downtown theaters - the Loews State, the Majestic and the Metropolitan. I still remember the White/Colored division on the busses of that era. Remember once when a black lady sat in a "white seat" just in front of the division line. The driver pulled over to the side of Westheimer - and came back and verbally chastised her. She of course, moved - what else could she have done in those days? Very similar to Travis's experience Thanks again, - Rick McDowell Lamar HS Class of 1959 I received the book on Friday afternoon. My immediate reaction is My cup runneth over. I was so pleased to see the tribute to Walleah Tennyson and also the article Roberts to Redskins. I didn't remember that that article was going into the book. The whole piece is so well-organized and easy to follow. I think I had heard years ago that you and Pete had an older sister besides the twins, and now I have read the article and know about her. So many other things that I can read and enjoy in the book. As I said in the article, your mother and I got along very well and had several conversations about Lamar, languages, and colleges. So many people took Spanish at Lamar. As you know, I was a Latin fanatic. Again, thank you so much for the gift of the book and for including the articles in it. I am very proud of the whole project, and the only wish that I have is that we can meet in person and talk a lot more. I repeat your wish, may 2024 be a much better year for us all. - John Dorroh "Walleah"; "Roberts to Redskins" Stafford, Texas |
| Reader Comments for Blackledges in America (2nd Edition) |
|
I received the books yesterday and a cursory look into them is just
amazing. Having the c.d. didn't really tell the whole story -
how
much new information we added, and I was only involved with one
section. Great job. The books look great.
Now, I just
have to re-enforce a bookshelf to hold all this weight!
Thanks for your work on this. - Charma Owens Apollo Beach, Florida Mike, just received the books. Looking forward to sitting down and enjoying them. Thanks again for all your hard work. Please pass my sincere thanks to the others involved in putting this major undertaking together. You all have done something special and should be very proud of it. Five years ago I didn't know anything about my roots. My father was the only Blacklidge in that generation that ever married and I was his only son so I didn't even have any first cousins or any other distant relatives that I knew of other than grandparents and an aunt or two. Once I found your web site and got your first edition I was able to realize how far the Blackidge's went back. It was very eye opening and I appreciated under- standing some of my genealogy. Knowing that there were Blacklidge's who accounted for many fine things in their lives was good. Thanks again, - Bill Blacklidge Lynden, Washington Got the books today, they are awesome (and HUGE). thanks for doing this for us!!! - T. N. Taylor Vine Grove, Kentucky |
Reader Comments for Blackledge Stories |
It is the family
stories, those fables passed down from the old to the young, that reveal a
family’s flavor—sweet or tart, sour or acidic. Michael Allan Blackledge has
compiled generations of valorous and amusing family stories in the book Blackledge Stories for us to delight in. - Louise
Farmer Smith, author of The Woman Without
A Voice “Blackledge Stories” goes beyond the genealogical events,
recounting adventures of both recently departed and current clan members. Well written and well told, it will hold your
interest as they share intimate details in their lives with mirth, pathos,
excitement, tragedy and triumph. - Richard W. Blide, author of Alien Threat and Heartfelt
While this book is
bound to entertain present and future generations of Blackledges, it also
should spur all readers to record the stories that make their family members
unique – not mere names, places and dates in a family tree. |
| Comments updated as of 26 January 2024 |