Memoir

Jack Jordan Ammann Jr. touched many lives with his generosity, strong personality, loyalty, kindness, and humor. After Jack's death, friends shared their favorite “Jack stories,” funny and serious, short and long. Enjoy favorite memories of a special man.

Special circumstances force Socorro Camero Haro to accept a middle school teaching position in Doctor Arroyo, Nuevo León, México. At the time of her departure, her mother warns her: “Don’t forget that you will live in a crystal box where everyone will see and judge what you do.” Little did the recent graduate imagine how valuable this advice will be for her in the future.

Socorro had grown up in an environment of love and protection. Now she faces a world different from her own. In the 1950s, the young teacher faces the taboos of the small towns of that time: single, alone, living and working only with men. She lived in a remote town, with only dirt roads, no running water, and electricity limited to two hours a day. Socorro confronts the superstitions of the people and encounters the local villain, who is almost a legend. Several times, fate places her and her students in dangerous situations in which she must make instant and drastic decisions. The only communication with her family and her fiancé is by mail. Unforeseen problems affect her wedding plans. Within her loneliness, Socorro finds joy in her new friends and coworkers, the love of her students, and the satisfaction of seeing them excel.

The Director General has promised to bring her back to Monterrey soon. But will he keep his promise? Will she win the trust and affection of the townspeople? Will her love story survive? Will she get over the loneliness and the remoteness from her close-knit family?

In this book, we will find the young teacher facing the challenges, intrigues, and defects of a real world. This is a true story that will captivate the reader.

Circunstancias especiales obligan a María del Socorro Camero Haro a aceptar un puesto de maestra de secundaria en Doctor Arroyo, Nuevo León, México. Antes de partir, su madre le dice que recuerde que vivirá en una caja de cristal en la que todos verán y juzgarán lo que hace. La recién graduada maestra no imagina cuán valioso será este consejo en el futuro.

Socorro había crecido en un ambiente protegido. Ahora se encuentra en un mundo diferente al suyo. Es la década de 1950, y la joven maestra se enfrenta a los tabúes de quienes viven en pueblos pequeños en ese momento. Es soltera y vive y trabaja sólo con varones. Ella se encuentra en un pueblo remoto al que sólo se puede acceder por caminos de tierra, que no tiene agua corriente y la electricidad está limitada a dos horas al día. Socorro se enfrenta a las supersticiones de la gente y conoce al villano local, que es casi una leyenda. Varias veces, el destino la coloca en situaciones peligrosas en las que debe tomar decisiones instantáneas y drásticas. La única comunicación con su familia y su novio es por correo. Problemas imprevistos afectan sus planes de boda. A pesar de su soledad, encuentra alegría en enseñar a sus alumnos y verlos sobresalir. Sus nuevos compañeros de trabajo y amigos la ayudan a adaptarse a su actual entorno.

El Director General de Educación ha prometido traer pronto a Socorro a Monterrey. ¿Cumplirá su promesa? ¿Se ganará ella la confianza y el respeto de la gente del pueblo? ¿Sobrevivirá su historia de amor? ¿Superará su soledad debido a la distancia del pueblo a su unida familia?

En este libro, encontraremos a Socorro lidiando con los desafíos y las intrigas del mundo real. Ésta es una historia verdadera que cautivará a los lectores.

Imagine how you would feel if you woke up one day and learned that your best friend was the most prolific serial killer in America and most of his victims looked like you. That was the start of a forty-year quest to understand the mind of a killer and friend. The search led to others like him and their dark compulsions. How can they murder multiple human beings without remorse?

The Ripper’s Children: Inside the World of Modern Serial Killers examines how their murderous drives may originate. Can serial murderers control their killing sprees? Are the causes social, genetic, or biochemical? The book sheds light on the blackest corner of the human mind. This book may cause you to take a closer look at your relatives, friends, and neighbors.

Cherry Tree Dares: Essays on Childhood written by Ilene W. Devlin was released in November 2020. In it, she describes her growing up in small Midwestern towns during the 1950s and 1960s. She dedicates her book to those from small towns or who wish they were. Real life is often more fascinating than fiction. To understand our lives as adults, we often reflect on important childhood events. Such adventures shaped us, making us who we are today.“People from my small towns had distinct characteristics. They were open, nosy, friendly, and helpful and encouraged community conformity. My heart will always rejoice in my childhood experiences. Those included trying to keep my active imagination entertained and to understand adults. My journey involved happiness and sorrow, the spectrum of emotions that many children encounter. Come explore life’s mysteries through my essay ‘Cherry Tree Dares’, my black eye in ‘The Chartreuse Monarch’ bicycle and ‘The Last Kiss’ between my mother and me.” Ilene W. Devlin Cherry Tree Dares: Essays on Childhood is the author’s first published nonfiction book.

Emma’s World: A World War II Memoir is a narrative nonfiction book by Ilene W. Devlin released in November 2020. The work is based on published research, family oral history and personal diaries and letters from World War II. This inspiring story shows one young American woman’s resilience in achieving her dreams by overcoming life’s obstacles. The book traces Emma’s life in Missouri in the 1930s through the end of World War II. Emma dreams of becoming a teacher. She would be the first in her family to finish high school but needs a college degree to receive her teaching certificate. She makes many sacrifices to succeed. Emma also dreams of becoming a wife and mother, but her boyfriend enlists in the Army during World War II. She faces the decision of whether they should marry before he leaves or after he returns, if he does so. Emma’s and Peter’s daily letters to each other are the heart of the second half of the book. Daily reality on the Midwestern home front continues, but stress, rationing and media war reports adversely affect all community members. From enduring muddy roads to learning about modern warfare, they find that their perspective constantly shifts from mundane life to world-altering events.

This book has been a long time in the making. Eighteen years to be exact. Gary, whose voice you will hear through the first several chapters, died before the book could be completed. When Gary was first diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, he knew he would be spending long periods of time in the hospital. One day Gary announced, “I think I will write a book about how a family who was steadfastly a one-dog family came to own six dogs.” It was not until after Gary died that Betsy realized how much, and how well, he had written about their life and their dogs. After a year-long struggle, and after nearing the halfway mark of this book, he quietly died with family and friends by his side. Betsy moved on with her life. The book always stayed just out of her vision, almost too painful for her to consider. She took a glance at it from time to time, surprised at all he remembered and cherished of their life together. But, most of all, his book was about the dogs in their life and his profound and deep love for them. Nearly seventeen years after his death, Betsy began reading his funny and poignant words and she knew she needed to finish his story.

Military families make great sacrifices for their country. While the soldiers wear the uniform and risk their lives, the families live like gypsies with all the responsibilities of holding the family unit together, and receive only a fraction of the recognition they deserve. This is the story of my life growing up in a military family.

The World War II generation is dying off at the rate of about 487 a day nationwide. Only 80,000 are left of the 16,000,000 who were in service during World War II. Ray Schaaf is one of the last surviving WWII vets. In Time Flies, he shares his experiences as a boy growing up in a family of five in small-town Colorado before and during the Depression; a young man who eagerly joined the Army Air Corps to fight World War II; a gunner on thirty-five bombing missions; a husband and father of four; a civilian working a variety of jobs after the war before rejoining the military; a career officer in the Air Force, a fuels and missile expert for more than twenty-six years; a retiree enjoying hobbies, friends, and travels with his wife; a widower still enjoying friendship and travel. Time Flies is not only the story of Ray Schaaf; it is the story of many of our World War II heroes.

George H. Vakey spent three years, three months, and fifteen days in World War II, 165 days in combat. He returned from the war to spend his life as an educator.