Arcadia - A Memoir

by William Turner

My father died when I was five, and my mother moved away to take a job, leaving me to be raised by my strong-willed grandmother in a railroad hotel. My story tells about the hotel’s boarders, my pets (a goat, squirrel, and a dog), fishing and swimming in a creek and abandoned coal mine pits, hunting in the woodlands, and engaging in the activities of a young lad growing up in a small Kansas town in the 30s and 40s. More importantly, the story is about the hilarious–and sometimes dangerous– escapades of a curious, mischievous boy who was forever trying to avoid his grandmother’s work assignments.

The people of my hometown are important to my story. Colorful characters such as my grandmother, Minerva (the telephone operator), Marshal Dunbar, Herschel Mooneyham (the undertaker), Dr, Adams, G. W. Corporon (preacher, lawyer, editor), my cousin Jackie, and my three buddies blend in the telling of my life in Arcadia.

Arcadians faced the closing of the coal mines, the Great Depression, and World War II. This story chronicles how the people of my hometown coped with the shortages and sacrifices imposed by those difficult times.

Arcadia is a story about a time when life was simple in small-town America; people pulled together and depended upon each other. In the 1930s, most people didn’t own an automobile, and during the War, gas was rationed, so folks stayed in town, shopped at local stores, and socialized with their neighbors.

202 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 10, 2019

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Anita Callahan]

My Home Town

Truly enjoyed this book. I grew up in Arcadia and knew so many of the people and places it speaks of.