TESTIMONIALS
"A Captivating and compassionate novel from the heart of home-town America filled with pride of heroism."
- Laura Reynolds, Publishing Editor
--Write Designs, LTD
Forest (Ohio) native honors his hero dad in novel - But rather than pick Abraham Lincoln, George Washington or Theodore Roosevelt, Cramer brings a new character to literature. His hero is his step-father, Jack. Through the characters in the book, the reader watches the growth of the community and then sees it slowly die. The book begins when Kenneth was five years old and his mother, Martha, married Jack. She brought two sons, Kenneth and Rick, with her to the union, but Jack never treated the boys as anything other than his own, recalled Kenneth. It is a story about one common man who slowly became a local legend, his family and the small town where he lived, writes Kenneth in his introduction. For nearly 50 years, Jack had been a volunteer firefighter with the Forest Fire Department. Almost all the incidents have a basis of fact, said Kenneth. Some of them I experienced and some I know he experienced. This was a learning process. I m not a writer. Through the characters in the book, the reader watches the growth of the community and then sees it slowly die. That s not to say Forest is dying, but the decline of railroads definitely was a factor in the life of all small towns, said Kenneth. Everyone s job was in some way connected to the railroad and, of course, it is not that way anymore. Throughout the changes in the book, the constant source of strength is Jack. I always looked up to him, said Kenneth. It was fascinating growing up with this guy. He s my hero because he did a lot for my brother and me that he didn t have to do. Yes, he served on the health board and he was always active in the community festivals. During the blizzard of 1977, he didn t come home for four days. He slept on a cot at the firehouse, but it s not just that. He took kids that didn t belong to him and turned them into his own. --Kenton Times - August 10, 2010
