Joy Neal Kidney's Blog

A few years back, I was invited to give a talk, set up by someone else, for a Corvette club at the Dallas County Freedom Rock®, about the Wilson brothers whose service is remembered there. This memorial had dedicated October 19, 2019. Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II was published a month later..The time had never been confirmed and I didn’t know who to contact. My Favorite Guy asked if I wanted to drive to Minburn anyway. Sure, and maybe we could motor on up the road from Minburn to Perry to see Joe Unger‘s iconic Sinclair gas station and get a picture with Guy’s Corvette in front it..There was no one around at the Freedom Rock®, except cyclists at the Nineteen14 restored depot, taking a break at the bar and grill from riding the Raccoon River Valley Bike Trail.The restored depot, now Nineteen 14 restaurant, is at the left. The yellow signs are along the bike trail. The men on the Freedom Rock are Donald, Delbert, Dale, Danny, and Junior Wilson–Grandma Leora’s five sons who served. Only two came home.It was about 10:00, so we waited a little while, but gave up and headed for Perry and the old Sinclair station. Folks like to park their classic cars in front for photos. The owner dresses up the big Dino for holidays.We began meeting a string of Corvettes, all waving at us, noticing Guy’s red C5. So we turned around and I got to tell the Wilson WWII story for them after all. The Freedom Rock at Minburn is only a couple of miles from where the Wilson family were tenant farmers before and during the war–until Clabe Wilson could no longer handle the farm with his sons all serving in the US Navy and US Army Air Force.Guy’s Corvette that he found in pristine condition in Minneapolis and owned for a few years. He was a little disappointed that I’d rather ride in the pickup!While I was finishing my talk, another group of collectible cars rolled in. They also wanted to hear the story of the Wilson brothers, so I was able tell it twice. How amazing and humbling this day was. And it wasn’t done..The Corvette group had invited us to have lunch with them at Brickyard Burgers & Brews in the county seat of Adel, so we did. What a blessed day!.We never did get a photo of the Corvette at the beautiful old gas station, but we took a selfie there when we stayed at the Hotel Pattee in Perry for our fifty-fifth wedding anniversary in 2021.Our one (and only) selfie with the Dino at the restored Sinclair station in Perry, Iowa. May 29, 2021.—–

The Dallas County Freedom Rock®, one of 99 Freedom Rocks®, one in each Iowa County (plus a bonus one as a fundraiser for veterans at Adventureland Park), was painted by artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen of The Freedom Rock.com.

Guy watched the internet for about a year until he found a C5 Corvette with a a stick shift. When he finally found THE car, he and his buddy Steve took Steve’s Corvette to Minnesota to have a look. At first the owner was concerned that since Guy is from Iowa, that he’d be driving on gravel roads. Hey, not all of us live on farms! Even though he had been the only owner, it had never experienced rain! The adoption was made that day. Guy sent a photo to the former owner so he could see where it ended up.

During the six years that Guy owned the C5, Parkinson’s set in, and with it a weakness, so he decided it was time to give up the fun car. His buddy Steve’s brother had hinted for years that he’d like to buy it, and he did. It’s a Missouri Corvette now.

I think Guy was a little disappointed that I didn’t enjoy riding in it, but it was fun for me knowing how much he enjoyed it. He’d join other owners having lunch somewhere fun to drive to.

But I certainly enjoy riding in his blue F150! (A pickup)

The Dallas County Freedom Rock® was dedicated October 19, 2019, in Minburn, Iowa.

The five Wilson brothers, my uncles, are remembered on one side. I’m so thankful because, even though three of the brothers were lost during WWII, it felt like the family had been forgotten.

The Wilsons were tenant farmers a couple of miles SW of this spot, until all five brothers had left to serve. Donald Wilson, the brother on the left, was the only one of the four who didn’t live at Minburn. He and Delbert and joined the Navy in 1934. Delbert left after his first enlistment was up, sure he could find a job in California that would pay more than the Navy. California also suffered under the Depression and he returned to Iowa.

Donald stayed in, took electricians classes and joined the crew of the brand new carrier, USS Yorktown (CV-5). In the compelling opening of Leora’s Letters, Donald had come home to Minburn with a friend. AWOL. Delbert and Donald would survive the war but they lost their younger brothers.

The north side of the Dallas County Freedom Rock® features well-known athletes who also served in the war, Bob Feller and Nile Kinnick.

This Freedom Rock® is along a highway and near a busy bike trail. When I gave my ophthalmologist a copy of Leora’s Letters, he did a doubletake. He and friends had biked to Minburn out the weekend before and discovered the Rock. He recognized the faces of the Wilson brothers, but didn’t know their story.

Clabe and Leora Wilson were the parents of the five brothers, along with their sisters, Doris and Darlene. Doris was my mother, in age between the Navy boys and the pilots. Darlene was the twin of Dale, the brother in the center. The one who has never been found.

I’m so thankful the family is being remembered, in the county they lived in for decades, in the State of Iowa, and beyond.

Shepherd’s “3 favorite reads in 2025” run from October 2024 to October 2025. These have such diverse settings–Mars and Earth (sci-fi), Transylvania (historical fiction), and Colorado (sheriff). My reviews:

Inverted by Craig Matthews

Sometimes you don’t find your “why” until you face a crisis.

In this spiritual thriller, Kars Dee hopes to avoid personal issues by escaping to Mars, where unbeknownst to him, a haven for displaced believers on Earth is being set up. The Domestic Religious Terrorist Act of 2045 has outlawed religious affiliations.

Interconnected conflicts with Earth and in the Heavens interrupt Kars’s mundane life on Mars. But when someone close to him is tortured, he finds the resolve to act courageously. Kars rushes through the unknown to save her, by his wits and prayers. Can he get there in time? At all?

Science fiction fans will relish this intriguing transformation tale which teems with sci-fi schemes and gadgets.

When Secrets Bloom by Patricia Furstenberg

Set in Transylvania in the 1400s, this mesmerizing novel weaves a multilayered story of Kate, a healer caught in ancient superstitions and accusations, and Moise, who contentedly worked in a printing press but knew too much.

Someone was always watching, choosing allegiances or having them imposed by tradition, lineage, religion, grievances, exclusions from power, old conflicts. Fascinating historical characters, with their eyes and ears open, wend their way through dangerous complications.

A charismatic experience.

Event Horizon by William Ablan

A welcome time off to go deer hunting with friends leads Undersheriff Will Diaz instead on a manhunt for a murderer. Not only has the hunted man killed a friend, the killer is a long-time friend and “blood brother” of Diaz himself. This terrific new novel, Event Horizon, is based on events from the author’s own career in law enforcement. I wish this series wouldn’t end!

There are also some beautiful vistas as the manhunt leads into the mountains of southern Colorado. One scene at night: “Mighty Orion had shouldered his way past the zenith and the ghostly Pleiades shivered in the night. The Moon painted the snow-covered mountains and trees with ice cold light.”

—–

The Shepherd website shares a chapter from each book and a link to Amazon, if you’d like more information.

Someone posted on the 15th Army Air Force Facebook page that he’d just found his grandfather’s Capri bell from WWII Italy. Several other people posted that they still had one a family member had brought home.

There was a legend with it.

Danny Wilson bought one when he first arrived in Italy. It was sent home with his effects from his base in Italy after he was declared MIA. His mother wore it on her watch for decades. Last I knew, Aunt Darlene had her mother’s watch, but no one knows what happened to it.

Photo of Leora Wilson wearing her watch with the little Capri bell fastened to it.

Danny Wilson was one of the three Wilson brothers lost during the War. The family story is told in Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II. My journey of research into what happened to the three brothers is told in What Leora Never Knew: A Granddaughter’s Quest for Answers.

While attending a writers’ conference several years ago, wannabe authors were encouraged to make it a practice to review books even before having one of our own published. It’s turned into a delightful habit. 

While copy-and-pasting my review (usually something short) on BookBub, Goodreads, and Amazon, I’ve begun to appreciate each site for different reasons.

BookBub

BookBub is becoming my favorite, mainly because it’s easier to make connections with readers and authors who enjoy the same kinds of books. BookBub also makes it handy to share a review on Twitter/X, which I do regularly.

Another feature I like to check every so often is which ebooks are on sale, ones recommended by a reader or author I follow. Some of them are even free! Once you’re signed up, those show up on your Notification page.

Goodreads

Goodreads has turned into a handy place to keep track of the books I’ve read, even the dates I finished them. At the beginning of the year, you can challenge yourself with the number of books you hope to read during the year. Goodreads will keep track of them and nudge you as the year winds down.

You may join a group of readers interested in the same kinds of books. It’s a great place to find comments about what they liked, or what they didn’t like.

Amazon

Amazon is what most people think about for leaving a review or rating for a book they’ve enjoyed. (If I don’t enjoy a book, I don’t finish it and don’t leave any kind of review.) Amazon is useful for authors because when a book reaches so many reviews, Amazon will boost the book in their own ads.

An Amazon Author Page is handy for readers to learn whether an author has written anything else. It’s useful to an author to have all her books in one place. Have a look at the bottom of this page for my recent book recommendations.

Do you have a favorite place to rate or review books you’ve enjoyed?

What a blessing to recently find this review of Leora’s Letters, posted on BookBub 2 years ago
.“Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II” by Joy Neal Kidney is a poignant and deeply moving account that I discovered after reading a glowing review from a fellow reader. Set against the backdrop of World War II, the novel delves into the lives of the Wilson family who live on a farm in Iowa. The Wilson family consists of a mother, a father, two daughters, and five sons. Their story is one of love, sacrifice, and resilience in the face of hardship. .As Leora’s sons enlist in the military (the Navy and the Army Air Force), the family faces the challenges of war. Through Leora’s heartfelt letters to her sons and the siblings’ exchanges we see the mounting tension, the agonizing waits between letters, and the unspoken fears that weigh heavily on their hearts. Even in the heat of battle the boys never forget their roots, expressing concern for their parents and the farm back home. .Reading “Leora’s Letters” was like entering the Wilson family’s living room and becoming intimately familiar with their joys, sorrows, and daily struggles. I was deeply moved by their story, and it felt like it could have been about my own family. .Joy Neal Kidney’s storytelling abilities bring Leora’s story to life in such vivid detail that my imagination danced with each page turn. What struck me the most about this book was its honesty and raw emotion. Joy Neal Kidney’s “Leora’s Letters” is a testament to the enduring power of love and sacrifice, compiled from her grandmother’s original letters. It serves as a reminder of families’ strength and resilience during difficult times. .I wholeheartedly recommend “Leora’s Letters” to anyone who wants to understand the depths of love and sacrifice that run through Leora’s family. It’s an engrossing read that will leave you deeply moved and grateful for the strength of the human spirit. Take the time to immerse yourself in this remarkable story; it will be an unforgettable experience. —–Recently I got acquainted with Patricia Furstenberg through her mesmerizing historical novel, When Secrets Bloom . The internet is so amazing–Pat is from Transylvania and now lives in South Africa..You might like to see Pat’s other books on her Amazon Author Page..I just chose When Secrets Bloom as one of my three favorite books for 2025 on Shepherd. (My list hasn’t been posted yet.)

After our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, was attacked, the United States was not equipped for a war, but soon was at war with the Japanese and the German Nazis. Manufacturers switched from cars and refrigerators and farm machinery to war production. (One of the armaments on Danny Wilson’s fighter plane had been produced by Frigidaire.)

Dad on the landlord’s horse, with his slow children. I’m at the left and Gloria is with Dad on the horse.

Toward the end of the war, the “Veteran’s Preference for New Farm Machinery and Equipment” was initiated by the Materials and Equipment Branch, Production and Marketing Administration, of the Department of Agriculture. County committees could issue veterans’ preference certificates for new farm machinery to World War II veterans who wanted to farm. Holders of the certificates with priority over prior contracts and commitments.

After Dad was discharged from the Army Air Force, he started tenant farming for Donald Shaw–with horses. I just barely remember the horses. One died while we were there and I learned about the rendering works at a tender age.

The only time we had a horse to ride was at the Shaw place, although I don’t even remember being around it. The barn was across the road from the house, where we were the only children at the top of the hill. I wonder who painted the sign.

Dad was given a certificate for new farm equipment but he couldn’t afford to buy a new tractor. His uncle, M.M. Neal, offered to trade his old Farmall F-20 tractor for Dad’s certificate. The F-20 was Dad’s first tractor when he and Mom bought a farm south of Dexter in the early 1950s.

I wish we’d thought to take photos of farm equipment in those days, but they were just part of our regular lives. I wish I had nostalgic photos of Mom wearing her apron in the garden or hanging the wash on the clothesline.

The 80 degree days finally gave up and we’re having a rainy day in the 60s. Bliss for someone who relishes gloomy weather.

I’ve managed two moseys today, both 2 1/2 blocks and back home. It was sprinkling when I started out, just after 7 a.m. Sunrise is getting lazier by the day. The Notre Dame Rose Window umbrella was my choice, since it’s large enough to really make a difference. 

My Favorite Guy went along just after 3:00 this afternoon. He’s not a fan of umbrellas so I grabbed the smaller plaid one. My souvenir of Edinburg, Scotland!

The souvenir brolly from Edinburg, 1989

It dawned on me that both umbrellas are souvenirs of a couple of incredible overseas trips. Guy’s sister and her husband (Lois and David) lived in Kings Lynn, England, during the 1980s, while David was a chemical engineer with Dow Chemical. We did touristy things with them, then Guy, Dan (age 14), and I headed for Cambridge and Scotland for a few days on our own. It rained while we were in Scotland, so a plaid umbrella became my remembrance of Edinburgh. Brolly, according to the sales slip.

The other trip was in October of 1997, with Mom and her sister, Aunt Darlene to be the first in the family to see where their younger brother, Danny Wilson, is buried in an American Cemetery in Eastern France. The travel agent walked us through choosing what else we’d like to see on the trip, since it would likely be the only one for Mom and Darlene, farm widows in their late seventies. So we also visited Paris and London! Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, the Tower of London, Bath, Stonehenge. We also spent time in Bruges and Brussels, Belgium.

It was a good thing we’d packed umbrellas. It rained while we had our own memorial service for Lt. Daniel S. Wilson, at the Lorraine American Cemetery near St. Avold, France. It rained throughout Belgium, and it was raining when we arrived in London after dark.

It also rained the day we toured Bath and Stonehenge, where another tourist took a photo of the four of us, one of our favorite photos of the trip. We all framed copies of it.

Darlene (Wilson) Scar, Doris (Wilson) Neal, Joy (Neal) Kidney, Guy Kidney. Stonehenge, October 14, 1997

When we got back to Iowa, Mom found a Notre Dame Rose Window in a Smithsonian catalogue and bought one for herself. She also got one for Aunt Darlene and for us!

When Dan was little, a rainy day with no lightning was an invitation to go for a walk. Once when he was grown, Dan admitted that he enjoyed when it rained the first day of school. He was the only one in a good mood! I guess he got that from him mom.

And walkin’ in the rain is especially charming under a brolly with a story.

Inverted: Surviving The Upside-down World

Book Blurb: Up is down. Back is forward. Last is first. Weak is strong.

Twenty-five years after surviving the collision of worlds in Charity’s Fire, the next generation has been trained to lead the underground. Then, the eldest runs away to Mars to escape the demands of leadership, and the second in command turns into a selfish rebel- bent on destruction.

Is everything always falling toward chaos?

As millions on earth flee the grip of the tyrannical Global Union, who will lead the outcasts to freedom? Who will rescue the downtrodden? Who will stand in the gap for the persecuted? Where will they run?

Short-sighted human ambitions need to fall to the ground and die before the real plan can emerge from the fertile soil of impossibility.

Are the Rebel and the Runaway really cowards?

Was their preparation another divine distraction?

Or have they suffered enough to be in the perfect position from which the underground can launch an exodus of Biblical proportions?

Inverted.

Strong is weak. First is last. Forward is back. Down is up.

Survive upside-down.

My thoughts: Sometimes you don’t find your “why” until you face a crisis.

In this spiritual thriller, Kars Dee hopes to avoid personal issues by escaping to Mars, where unbeknownst to him, a haven for displaced believers on Earth is being set up. The Domestic Religious Terrorist Act of 2045 has outlawed religious affiliations.

Interconnected conflicts with Earth and in the Heavens interrupt Kars’s mundane life on Mars. But when someone close to him is tortured, he finds the resolve to act courageously. Kars rushes through the unknown to save her, by his wits and prayers. Can he get there in time? At all?

Science fiction fans will relish this intriguing transformation tale teeming with sci-fi schemes and gadgets.

Here’s a short video revealing some of the backstory for Inverted.

Craig Matthews

Craig’s note on LinkedIn: “Last November my wife of nearly 44 years suddenly passed away. Widower was never a word I expected to be attached to my name, but here it is. My new reality has challenged me like nothing before. I have stories to tell and who knows how long we get to write them.”

This is the first book he has published since losing Connie. Craig is a son, widower, father to three adult children, Papa to seven grandchildren. Moo is still around, Weasel got the chickens. Author of five published books, and several more to come. He is also a mentor, speaker, and encourager.

Craig is one of the featured speakers at the upcoming Healing Conference in Waco, Texas, coming up this November.

Once when Clabe Wilson had been hunting, he brought home two young squirrel kits in his pockets. They must have been orphaned as they came readily to him. The Wilsons fed them raw oatmeal and milk.

“My, the kids sure think lots of them and, of course, Dad does, too,” his wife Leora wrote their Navy boys, “and I guess I do, too.” Clabe fixed a box for them and they became family entertainment. The bigger one didn’t last long, maybe from overeating. 

They named the survivor Rusty. He hid nuts and other small things in the door of the sewing machine cabinet. He’d grab the pencil or pen from someone writing a letter, and scamper away with it.   

Clipping from The [Dexter] Sentinel, Sept. 19, 1934

“‘Rusty,’ a recently acquired pet squirrel, is quite the most important member of the Wilson family in Dexter. The boys found the tiny fellow nearly starved, apparently an orphan, so they brought the hungry baby home, fed him bread and milk, and how he has thrived on these rations. He is especially fond of peaches and will also eat all the bread and butter you will offer him. He climbs all over anyone who will pick him up, nosing into pockets and sleeves in search of any hidden crumbs of food. He is quite the cutest pet we have seen in some time.”

Clabe and daughter Doris, then a teenager, took the Model T truck to gather black walnuts in the timber near Bear Creek. They brought home the load and dried it in the yard before attempting to husk them. Although Rusty began to spend less time with the family, he showed up when Doris cracked walnuts on the back step, and helped himself to the ones she’d already managed to open.

Doris was my mother. Her taste for black walnuts came from those Depression Era days. 

Clabe had pulled the top off the Model T truck, calling it their “roadster.” He sold it in late 1934 and the family had no automobile until a job as a tenant farmer in 1939 brought them out of poverty.

Leora Wilson took this photo in late 1934 to send to their “Navy boys,” Delbert and Donald, who enlisted early that year. Clabe, Dale, Danny, Junior, and Rusty.

Nelly Murariu used the photo in cover artwork for Leora’s Dexter Stories. I like the way it turned out. I bet the Wilson family would be surprised, and probably pleased as well.

Nelly Murariu of PixBeeDesign has designed the covers for all of the “Leora books” and also Meadowlark Songs. She also lays out the interiors, and for the ebooks as well.