Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Cuban refugee in La Salle publishes children’s book

Transcript

Cuban refugee in La Salle publishes children’s book · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Cuban refugee in LaSalle publishes children's book written by Tom Collins.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: This article is being read by an automated voice, brought
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to you by Everlett. Hers was a riveting story. Nobody
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: ever questioned that, but Maria Bilestrie of LaSalle labored for
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: years at writing and autobiography focused on her fleeing communist Cuba.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: It just never came together. During a family vacation in
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Miami this past winter, Bilestrie's daughter, Christina Murray, had an inspiration,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: why not tell your story in an illustrated children's book.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: It was an inspired idea, and suddenly Bilestri had the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: wind at her back. She sat down at her writing
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: desk and the words came easily. Friends and family helped
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: with the editing and illustration, and within months, two small
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: suitcases became available on Amazon. This happened very quickly, said Bilestrie,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: seventy eight, who quickly abandoned a book length autobiography. I'd
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: been working on this for years, and I wanted to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: do it before I'm gone. At age fourteen, Bilestrie had
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: fled Communist Cuba aboard one of the Peter Pan flights.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: A Catholic priest had arranged for Cuban children to seek
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: safe harbor in America. Bilestrie's parents, Armando and Adela Garcia,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: made the difficult decision to put daughters Maria and Adelita,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: sixteen on the plane in nineteen sixty two. It was
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: emotional saying goodbye to her parents. Bilestrie well remembers how
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: frightened she and her sister were when the plane took off.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: After we landed and boost to the refugee camp, we
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: held hands in the bunk beds. Bilestri recalled, I had
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the top and my sister had the bottom. We were scared.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: The story had a happy ending. A few years later,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Armando and Adela successfully emigrated from Cuba and there was
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: a joyous reunion. Balustrie later married and enjoyed a long
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: career as a Spanish teacher at LaSalle Peru Township High
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: School and Dymic School before she retired in twenty twelve.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: She finally returned to Cuba for a visit in twenty seventeen.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Along the way, she attempted repeatedly to chronicle her life story.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: We were sitting at the pool in Miami and Christina,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: my middle daughter, said Mom why don't you just write
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: a children's book as you remember it, the way you
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: see it. Bilestri had become a grandmother and warm to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the idea of writing her story as if to her grandchildren.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: She also considered that plenty of books had been written
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: about Fidel Castro and the repressive regime he imposed after
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: toppling Colm Cuba's government in nineteen fifty nine. Did the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: world really need another? Bilestrie sat down at her writing desk,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and this time everything clicked. She wrote a heartfelt narrative
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: about saying goodbye to her parents, holding her breath while
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the Communists rifled through her meager belongings at the airport,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and then landing in a strange country. It was an
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: emotional project, but Bilestri had plenty of help. Former LP
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: colleagues Marge for Plates and Joel and Anderson lent their support.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Bilestrie's eldest daughter, Elisa Clancy, managed all the technology and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: used artificial intelligence to illustrate the book. Perhaps most important
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was the test audience. Bilestrie's youngest granddaughter, Mia Grace, was
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the first one to read the book and give it
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: a thumbs up, so it was a family affair. As
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: it turned out, Bilestrie said