I am among the luckiest of women. I lived history. My Dad Kincaided under a revision of the Homestead Act. I lived in a sod house until I was six. During WWII, Dad (Bert Leach), Mom (Dagmar Jensen Leach), and I ran a 2,400 acre ranch. Mom didn't like to ride so Dad and I did the cattle wrangling. I was part of almost all cattle drives from the time I was seven until I went to college. It was hard work and I loved it.
I broke my own horse in my early teens. I had all those beautiful acres to roam.
NEBRASKA FOOTBALL
At eight I heard my first nebraska football game and I was in love. From then on, Saturday afternoon found me near a radio. In those years the Huskers seldom won a game. Still I listened and cheered. I still do and I've been lucky enough to watch them on TV as they won multiple national championships.
I love sports, but Nebraska football is and always will be close to my heart.
YELLOWSTONE PARK WYOMING
In 1952 I went to work in Yellowstone. There I met Ken Hounshell and we fell in love. It was the most romantic of summers set in the beautiful mountains along Yellowstone Lake. Two kids--away from home for the first time with not a care in the world other than the time we worked. Ken and I had two summers together and were parted for 50 years. I've told the story of Ken's and my lives in THIS PRECIOUS LOVE.
I MEET JACK BUCKINGHAM AT NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
In 1953 I entered Nebraska Wesleyan University and met Jack. We were married from my beloved cattle ranch in the Nebraska sandhills after my sophomore year. I graduated in 1963 and began teaching. Jack and I had four children, and seven grandchildren, and four great grandchldren.
I have worked as a secretary, taught business subjects and music and owned and operated a KOA Kampground. While we were teaching in Boulder, Colorado, we found and purchased our cabin in the high Rocky Mountains. I had loved the Rockies since the day I arrived in Yellowstone
While on the Kampground, Jack and I lost our third child, Kristina. We were in Chiropractic College when we turned 50 and I practiced for many years specializing in chronic diseases and nutrition. While in practice, our grandchildren began arriving and brought joy through many hard times.
When I retired at 65, I took my first creative writing class and began writing seriously. By then, Jack had advanced Parkinson's. He was ill for almost 15 years and died quietly in his sleep.
A WEDDING SONG FOR KEN
Ken, too, had married and raised a family. But when he faced death, he knew he must find me again. So he searhed until one day, I picked up the phone and he was on the line. We got back together and were married in 2002. I wrote hundreds of poems of love for him and a wedding song which I sang for him at our wedding. That day a dream that we had dreamed for over 50 years came true.
The story of Ken's call and the love we refound is told in THIS PRECIOUS LOVE, which was published in 2006 when I was 71. I then began learning about marketing books--writing and publishing/marketing: two whole new careers for me. Ken and I took a fabulous book-signing tour through the Western United States. It was exciting and exhausting.
Last year my second book, BECOMING BESTEMOR was published. It is the story of my Danish immigrant grandparents. The story of a 19-year-old girl who left her home knowing she'd never see her parents again and came to the United States to live her dream. She raised my Besefar's seven children from his first marriage and they had 14 more. Although it was published last, it should be read first as THIS PRECIOUS LOVE is actually the sequel.
You'll not want to miss reading them. I get rave reviews. Click here for our latest specials.
The arduous book-signing tours are beyond Ken's and my strength now so I am working 60 hours a week (Ken says 30 hours a day) to learn internet marketing.
And, of course, I continue to write for it is my love and my calling. Soon my newest book, COME SOAR WITH ME will be released. It is a book of spiritual tools set into a 40-day program for transformation. I'm also working on a book on weight loss and a book on writing, publishing and marketing. Come back often as I'll be giving you free excerpts as I write. See WRITE STUFF.
Ken is failing. And that breaks my heart. Yet, we live joyous lives if slightly more subdued. We winter in warm Yuma, AZ and spend our summers at our cabin in the high Colorado Rockies. And once in awhile get back to the ocean for a few days.
I end as I began. I am the most fortunate of women. I have had a fantastically interesting life, I grew up in the wide open spaces of Nebraska, have been able to do work I love, I have had two very special husbands who adored me, and now pursue my dream of writing and sharing my autumn years with Ken, my children and my grandchildren. Who could ever ask for more?