PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — When the Leisure Village Writers first met as a group with Chapman-based writer and former teacher Martie Pritchard in 2015, none of them ever thought that they would become seasoned authors published in two nonfiction story collections. Nor did the writers imagine they would be the featured characters of a similar book put together by Mapleton fourth-grade students and their teacher. But that is exactly what has happened.
Their story began when Pritchard was nearly finished writing a book about her mother’s experiences as a World War II German war bride and sought advice from other people of her mother’s generation.
After talking with the Leisure Village residents for several weeks, Pritchard discovered that many of them had dabbled in writing for years and had recounted stories of their families, childhoods and young adulthoods as well as what it was like to grow up in Aroostook County during crucial moments in history.
Pritchard realized that those stories needed to be preserved for future generations, so she put her own writing aside to help the Leisure Village residents shape their memories into both humorous and profound stories that readers of any generation can enjoy and learn from. After much writing, editing and revision, their first collection, “A Gift to the Future from the Leisure Village Writers,” was published in December 2016.
In the introduction to their latest book, “More Gifts From the Leisure Village Writers and Friends,” Pritchard recalls her motivation for bringing the writers’ stories from their notebook pages into the hands of local readers.
“For about a year, we met twice a week — Tuesdays I read my mother’s stories of Germany and Thursdays they read their stories. Eventually I realized their work held as much historical value as mine, only their storytelling was more urgent,” Pritchard writes. “These writers were nearing the end of their days. One would celebrate his 100th birthday on April 12, 2016.”
During the last few years, the writers, who range in age from 87 to 102, have invited many other community members to be part of the storytelling. In 2017, Kimberly Wright’s fourth-grade students from Mapleton Elementary School interviewed the Leisure Village Writers, wrote stories and published their own book, “A Gift From the Future to the Leisure Village Writers.” Select quotes from their interviews also appear in the recently published “More Gifts” to introduce each author.
For their second book, the group has included stories and poems from individuals who are not Leisure Village residents — Glenna Smith, Lloyd Archer, Dan Ladner, Larry Park and Mary Niles — as well as from family members.
Kathryn Burden Crowell of Potter County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Leisure Village Writer Rachel Burden, contributed the poems, “Potato Picker’s Diary,” “Route 2018” and “Just for Fun.” Leonard Hutchins collaborated with his son Peter Hutchins and grandson Ben Hutchins on the stories, “Airplanes” and “Feathers.”
“While growing up I always heard my parents tell stories and they told those stories so vividly I felt that I had lived through those experiences, too,” Crowell said, during a visit to the Leisure Village Writers on July 12. “Having my mother’s stories written down is precious. When I read the stories, it’s like I can hear her voice just the way she told them.”
The writing group has brought many new friends together and reunited old acquaintances. Burden, Maxine Smith, and Marjorie Bishop all graduated from Aroostook State Normal School — now the University of Maine at Presque Isle — in 1942 and became elementary school teachers.
In the “More Gifts” book, Bishop’s stories are called “Marjorie’s Musings” because they are short tales about specific memories from her life. She gives advice to writers both young and old in the story, “Mission Boat,” when she writes, “Remember it. Write it down. I’ve been doing this for nearly two years and find I have a few stories left.”
At the latest meeting of the Leisure Village Writers, Bishop gave some advice for writers who might be nervous about sharing their life stories.
“Tell it like it is and get it over with,” Bishop said. “And make your writing concise for readers.”
Some members of the group, including Bill McConnell, started writing years before joining the Leisure Village Writers. McConnell, who celebrated his 102nd birthday in April, published “Notes from the Packbasket: A Woodstove Autobiography” in 1996.
In “More Gifts,” McConnell writes mainly about his experiences growing up at the small sporting camp that his father owned in Portage. He said that being part of the writing group has helped himself and many others stir up old memories that they believed were long forgotten.
“Everyone lives a life and has a story,” McConnell said. “As we hear other peoples’ stories, it brings back memories of our own that we could tell about.”
All three Leisure Village Writers books, which were published by Martie and Jim Pritchard’s home-based Bright Star Publishing, are available for purchase at Merchants on the Corner in Presque Isle and on Amazon.
