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Beverly Park Williams - BOOK - Parallel & Separate · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Of course if future here in the fifty five Kersey
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  Speaker 1: Morning Show from time to time local authors. I think
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  Speaker 1: it's really cool. Do we have local authors. They prove that, yes,
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  Speaker 1: you can write a book, you can get a book published.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the women who's going to explain how
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  Speaker 1: that is done in her impetus behind writing and getting
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  Speaker 1: involved in writing, Beverly park Williams. It's Beverly. It's a
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  Speaker 1: pleasure to have you on the program today.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for this opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it's my pleasure. I appreciate you forwarding me a
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  Speaker 1: copy of the book. I will admit upfront, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to lie to you. I haven't had an opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to read it yet. I note that the book Parallel
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  Speaker 1: But and Separate. This is the name of your second book,
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  Speaker 1: Parallel and Separate, A Tale of Two Sisters. Does this
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  Speaker 1: book number two involve the same subject matter as your
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  Speaker 1: first book, Separate but Parallel?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Actually the story both stories are about two sisters,
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  Speaker 2: Janet and Shirley. The first book is really about Turley,
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  Speaker 2: who is my mother. After I've moved her into a
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  Speaker 2: nursing home in Anderson Township, I spent a lot of
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  Speaker 2: time with her, and she began to tell me many
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  Speaker 2: stories for life. And the stories became so numerous. I
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  Speaker 2: purchased a handheld recorder and after more than two years
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  Speaker 2: of recording, I transcribed almost three hundred pages of notes,
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  Speaker 2: and that became the first book.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and that's I guess primarily one of the reasons
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  Speaker 1: I asked, this is not a short book. It's your
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  Speaker 1: your separate book we're talking about today, parallel and separate.
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  Speaker 1: It comes in at four hundred and fifty pages. This
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  Speaker 1: is I guess, the story of Shirley and jen At
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  Speaker 1: her sister. Shirley, you said already is your mom. They
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  Speaker 1: were separated very close to birth. I guess your Your
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  Speaker 1: mother was a newborn and your aunt was three years
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  Speaker 1: old when they separated. But they both lived in the
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  Speaker 1: greater Cincinnati area, yet had no idea of each other's existence.
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  Speaker 1: As I understand, it is that accurate.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, their families, both the father for Janet and the
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  Speaker 2: mother for Shirley, kept it a secrets. So they were
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  Speaker 2: separated not knowing about one another, to be reunited seventy
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  Speaker 2: years later, seven decades later.
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  Speaker 1: That is truly amazing. Now, they grew up differently. Not
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  Speaker 1: only were they separated. Not only did they not know
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  Speaker 1: each other and they grew up on opposite sides of
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  Speaker 1: the town, they also were quite different in the socioeconomic upbringing.
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  Speaker 1: Were they not?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, they were. Actually Janet was kept by her father
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  Speaker 2: and her father's parents, and they lived a fairly middle
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  Speaker 2: class life on the west side. When the grandfather separated
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  Speaker 2: the two sisters, he thought that my mother would go
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  Speaker 2: with their mother and live with their mother's relative. Fortunately,
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  Speaker 2: their mother had been adopted by an elderly couple in
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  Speaker 2: Hyde Park, and both the couple, the grandmother and the grandfather,
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  Speaker 2: were in nursing home, So Shirley and her mother were
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  Speaker 2: pretty much left to fend for themselves on the East side,
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  Speaker 2: and Shirley grew up in poverty.
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  Speaker 1: Oh so, I guess I'm wildly curious. Since they were
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  Speaker 1: sisters obviously genetically linked, did they sort of I hate
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  Speaker 1: these words, turn out after seventy years of life. Were
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  Speaker 1: they different people? Different political philosophies obviously, maybe different socioeconomy,
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  Speaker 1: because that depends on what they ended up doing for
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  Speaker 1: a living. But personality wise, was there a consistency or
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  Speaker 1: were they dramatically different people? Having lived these separate lives
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  Speaker 1: when they finally met each other.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question because they were very different
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  Speaker 2: because of growing up on the West Side. Her family
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  Speaker 2: was Catholic, of course, and sent Janet to Catholic girls' school.
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  Speaker 2: My mother and her mother were Protestant, and as they
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  Speaker 2: came to know one another seventy years later, they realized
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  Speaker 2: that they had very different political views.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's kind of the point I was coming I
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  Speaker 1: was going to come to. I'm glad you brought it
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  Speaker 1: up yourself, because I'm going to pry into politics of it.
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  Speaker 1: So different religious philosophy and then different political philosophies. So
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  Speaker 1: I presume one Democrat one Republican was as simple as
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  Speaker 1: boiling it down to that. Was there something beyond that?
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  Speaker 2: Now's that's exactly right.
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  Speaker 1: East Side was Republican, right, Yes, just like the West Side.
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  Speaker 1: You cander us expect it's going to be from a
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  Speaker 1: Catholic family. Having grown up in del High I'm hip
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  Speaker 1: to that. Beverly, there were two children in my mom
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  Speaker 1: and dad's family, and there were mostly five and six
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  Speaker 1: children in the balance of the neighborhoods.
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  Speaker 2: FA.
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  Speaker 1: I'll let you do the math on who was Catholic
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  Speaker 1: and who wasn't. So why will my listeners Beverly Williams,
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  Speaker 1: author of the book Parallel and Separate, a tale of
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  Speaker 1: two sisters, Why will my listeners find your family history
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  Speaker 1: and the lives of your mother and her sister growing
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  Speaker 1: up severally a fascinating story worthy of reading?
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  Speaker 2: Beverly, The reason is truly the setting of Cincinnati. In
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  Speaker 2: book one for my mother and in book two for
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  Speaker 2: my aunt Janet, they bring to the book memories from
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  Speaker 2: both the West Side and the East Side, and I
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  Speaker 2: think people, particularly in the local area can relate to
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  Speaker 2: those memories as well as the incredible part of their
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  Speaker 2: memories also of downtown Landmark. So you have to wonder
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  Speaker 2: did they see each other on Fountain Square? Did they
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  Speaker 2: me one another on a bus and not know that
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  Speaker 2: they were books? And their grandfather and their father were
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  Speaker 2: the groundskeepers at Coney Island, So Coney Island is a
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  Speaker 2: is somewhat of a focus of both books. Now, in
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  Speaker 2: book two, I had the time. My mother had passed,
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  Speaker 2: so I had the time to do research on where
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  Speaker 2: did their father's ancestors come from and where did their
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  Speaker 2: mother's ancestors come from? And I add that detail in
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  Speaker 2: book two wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: So the very interesting and quite unusual story of them
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  Speaker 1: being separated at such a young agent growing up in
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  Speaker 1: the same town. But you know, not knowing each other
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  Speaker 1: is a vehicle to bring in all of this you know,
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  Speaker 1: relevant Cincinnati area history, I suppose is how you boil
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  Speaker 1: that down?
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  Speaker 2: Yes?
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  Speaker 1: Exactly, great, well local historians and uh, I guess maybe
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  Speaker 1: Peter Bronson should read a copy of this, since he
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  Speaker 1: writes local history. Relieved by the way, Peter Bronson's new
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  Speaker 1: book was great. I finished it the other day. You'll
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  Speaker 1: love it anyhow, So I want to ask you, Beverly,
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  Speaker 1: what was and and maybe you mentioned it before, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry I didn't process it, but I'm curious to
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  Speaker 1: know why the Shirley and Janet didn't know each other,
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  Speaker 1: Why they kept this sort of a family secret, that
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  Speaker 1: that that you know, they had a y had a
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  Speaker 1: sibling living across town. What happened to prevent you your
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  Speaker 1: mom and her sister from knowing about each other.
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  Speaker 2: They believed it was somewhat of a shameful issue that
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  Speaker 2: the grandfather had separated the two sisters, especially not allowing
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  Speaker 2: them to get to know one another, not allowing them
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  Speaker 2: the same privileges in life? So what is what is
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  Speaker 2: the reason betid my title? Both sisters grew up obviously
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  Speaker 2: separate from one another, but as they become young working
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  Speaker 2: women and then wives, and then mothers, and even grandmothers
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  Speaker 2: and then widows. During the time that they became reunited,
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  Speaker 2: they realized that truly they were they had lives more
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  Speaker 2: in parallel to one another than they initially believed.
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  Speaker 1: How much time are they able to spend each other?
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  Speaker 1: Did they create a friendship or a strong relationship after
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  Speaker 1: meeting after seventy years? And how long were they around
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  Speaker 1: if they did, in fact spend any time together? How
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  Speaker 1: long were they around to do that.
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  Speaker 2: They did when they were both in there obviously their seventies.
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  Speaker 2: They wrote to one another, they sent cards, they talked. Initially,
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  Speaker 2: they tucked on the phone a lot, and had lunches
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  Speaker 2: and dinners and even had a spontaneous crypt of Florida together.
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  Speaker 2: But over time, as they become more and more elderly,
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  Speaker 2: they began to decline in their relationship, and once I
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  Speaker 2: put my mother in a nursing home, their relationship really deteriorated.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry to hear that, but at least they got
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  Speaker 1: to spend time together, learn about each other, and you
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  Speaker 1: got this fascinating story that obviously we're compelled to write about.
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  Speaker 1: To the budding authors out there, people who think, oh,
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  Speaker 1: there's no way I'm ever going to get published, can't
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  Speaker 1: do it, how did you manage to is this? These
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  Speaker 1: are the first books you've written?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, okay they are.
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  Speaker 1: That's well, that's an accomplishment and in itself, so what
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  Speaker 1: kind of what recommendation is a local author and is
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  Speaker 1: it obviously a not well published yet anyway would you
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  Speaker 1: give the people who might be inspired to write a book,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe who have been thinking about that, what would
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  Speaker 1: you say to them?
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  Speaker 2: I would say go for it. I would say, if
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  Speaker 2: you have a story that you believe in and can
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  Speaker 2: add to it details and add to it some conversations
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  Speaker 2: and interactions, especially with other people and settings like Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 2: I was fascinated by places in Cincinnati both my mother
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  Speaker 2: and my aunt Janet talked about I never knew of. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: so I was able to go around this city and say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: I didn't know about that, but what a wonderful area.
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  Speaker 2: My aunt Janet was fascinated with Miami Whitewater Forest. I
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  Speaker 2: had never heard of that. So it was fun doing
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  Speaker 2: the book, doing the research, and suddenly you have pages
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  Speaker 2: and pages of good information to share.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's great, I guess today, Beverly Park, William's local
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  Speaker 1: author Parallel and Separate Book two a tail it two
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  Speaker 1: sisters learn about the Greater Cincinnatier are generally speaking of
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  Speaker 1: this fascinating tale of the women who were separated at
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  Speaker 1: a very young age and lived in the same town.
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  Speaker 1: You didn't even know of each other's existence. Beverly, has
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  Speaker 1: been a sweet opportunity to speak with you this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and I appreciate you writing the book and inspiring other
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  Speaker 1: local authors maybe put pen to paper, as the case
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  Speaker 1: may be, and put their own work together getting it published.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe another thing, How are you able to get your
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  Speaker 1: book published, Beverly Williamsfore we part company.
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  Speaker 2: So initially with the first book, I went through Amazon
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  Speaker 2: through their publishing operation. With this second book, I actually
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  Speaker 2: used Ingram Spark. And the reason I did is one
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  Speaker 2: of the book stores in Milford said, well, you know
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  Speaker 2: all the bookstores purchase their books through Ingram Spark, who
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  Speaker 2: is the distributor of books. So I said, oh, okay,
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  Speaker 2: So I invented that and published through Ingram Spark and
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  Speaker 2: I have been going around bookstores asking them to please
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  Speaker 2: purchase my book.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, that's how you get it out in the world, Beverly,
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  Speaker 1: and you become a well published author. And I wish
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  Speaker 1: you all the best as you move toward that endeavor,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope people will enjoy the book parallel and
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  Speaker 1: separate to Tel two Sisters. That'd be a book two.
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  Speaker 1: You can read book one as well.