Gold Medal Award goes to…”Worth Remembering: The Poetry of Our Heritage”

Byriehlifegrace October 31, 2009November 14, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POP!

My father, Erwin A. Thompson, turns 94 this November 9th. What could make a better birthday present than winning an award for a book you put a lifetime of heart into?

That’s just what happened when his poetry book “Worth Remembering: The Poetry of Our Heritage–a family and friends poetry anthology and some of the stories” won a Gold Medal Award.

We’ll pick up the Stars and Flags book award during Veterans Homecoming Week in Branson, Missouri. It’ll be a family trip with my brother Gary Thompson and his wife Patty joining Pop and me.

Click here for a list of the winners.

“Peony Harvest” by Erwin A. Thompson

Byriehlifegrace June 22, 2008June 22, 2008

Photo by Susan Tweit. Susan calls this “Old Home Place” peony because it came from her mother-in-law’s childhood home in Possum Valley, Arkansas. “It’s doing fine here at 7,000 feet in the southern Rocky Mountains, but sometimes I wonder if it doesn’t wonder how it got here!” Susan says. PEONY HARVEST by Erwin A. Thompson…

Family Matters

Village Wisdom: Anchors, E. A. Riehl…by Erwin A. Thompson

Byriehlifegrace February 23, 2009February 25, 2009

Evergreen Heights, the place founded by E. A. Riehl and our homeplace still…where he communed with nature and forged paths to become one of the 8 premiere horticulturalist in the world at that time. E. A. Riehl was a pillar of the community, though known not to suffer fools gladly. The lane which ends in…

Family Matters

“Why Jelly Donuts Make Me Smile,” by Janean Baird

Byriehlifegrace August 18, 2011August 18, 2011

Janean Baird, my niece, is the oldest child of my brother Gary Thompson and his wife Patty. She’s an artist, writer, and a younger woman of wisdom. You can read more of her work at her blog Turquoise Tangles. Here’s a funny family story about my older sister Julia. This is the first time I’m…

Family Matters

“When Trails Divide,” a love poem for Ruth by Erwin A. Thompson

Byriehlifegrace May 1, 2010May 3, 2010

My father wrote this touching love poem for my mother, Ruth Evelyn Johnston Thompson after her death May 1, 2006. Today is the fourth anniversary of her death. Once again I’m sharing his tribute. See Ric Masten’s poem for Nancy Malone. –JGR When Trails Divide by Erwin A. Thompson For Ruth, my faithful partner of…

Erwin A. Thompson’s 1936 song “Girl in the Little Blue Hat” coquettes again Valentine’s week 2008

Byriehlifegrace February 15, 2008

In 1936, when my father was 21, he wrote a song for Sherman Bowen’s younger sister, Lucille, that came to be titled “The Girl in the Little Blue Hat.” Lucille was sixteen when he composed the song, but had been perhaps eight-years-old when my father started dancing square dances with her at Ben Hill’s dances…

Family Matters

Pop, at 95, Makes the Scene: Our biggest night of the social season.

Byriehlifegrace May 23, 2011May 23, 2011

Last night Pop and I made the scene at two premiere Alton social events of the Spring Season. We field-tested the new rig inherited from my sister-in-law Patty’s mother, who passed away last winter. It’s a sort of combo walker/seat, and has a little pouch to easily take along his portable oxygen. We found it…

One Comment

Eden Maxwell says:

November 4, 2009 at 5:46 pm

My best thoughts for the birthday “boy” Edwin.

I find a kinship with Janet and her father on many levels—especially that rarity—daughter and father collaborate.

This reminds me of my late mother Adele who also worked with me on many writing projects, including my latest book: An Artist Empowered.

Edwin—you are the man!

Eden

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