Mrs Christine J Howard

Woman of the Heartland: Rural Upbringing Mrs Christine J Howard

Publisher Marketing: This book tells the stories of my mother's life. It is fictionalized to make it more enjoyable. My mother, Doris McAllister grew up in rural North Central Minnesota and making a living was often a struggle for the family. In spite of a post war recession followed closely by the depression they survived. Doris was a lover of books and a wonderful storyteller much of the material in between the covers is based on the tales she told me and my seven siblings. Follow her life, her families many moves and even a trip across the country for her father to find work. You will relish the characters in her life: Tippy the intelligent and lively fox terrier, Elwin Doris' paraplegic Uncle, Great-grandmother Arrowood who had a proverb for every occasion, her father, Alex who she dearly loved, Peter McAllister Alex's father who married five times yet left his son to be raised by his in-laws, Squirt and Squeak her younger brother and sister. Through all the tough times these people had fun and loved. So take a trip back in time and see turkeys frozen in the trees, cottage cheese in a cheesecloth bag hanging from the clothes line, party lines, house dances, and the world that is a one room school house and what the teacher who has eight grades must accomplish from lessons to cleaning the floors.