Winding Round the Square : This book had its beginning in an unusual way. My wife Betty Benedict and I were sitting in our family room, recalling our childhood growing up in the mountains of North Carolina during the Great Depression and WWII. She mentioned that during her childhood she had written several poems. She said she often thought of having them published.
I told her I would like to read them. She left the room and later returned with several large hat boxes. Opening one of the boxes she started pulling out paper table napkins with pencil hand writing on them. Seeing my puzzled look she said, "These are my poems."
Her mother operated a restaurant on the square in Hayesville, North Carolina. Young Betty would sit in her mother's cafe and write poems on table napkins. I found these poems to be very entertaining and I knew we should get them in the computer for safe keeping. Many of the poems were written before she was twelve years old. Each poem covers a specific event in her life and are placed in the book with relating content.
Betty said, "So many things have changed since our childhood. We grew up in such an innocent time, everyone had to struggle to manage during the depressed time, especially in the mountains. " We talked of how much fun we managed without spending money for anything.
Betty said,"I have always wanted to tell people what good times we had during that depressed period. I experienced so many things that people today have never heard of. "
That is how we began the publication of Winding Round the Square. Betty and I started immediately to prepare the book for publication. She would talk and I would enter the data into the computer. We scanned over two hundred photographs and the forty-eight poems to include in the book. Nine months later the book was published in January 2010.
During preparation of the book and data, I was completely impressed by the detail memory she had of all the events of her growing up. One article in the book was from her memoirs of before she was three years old. In one article she remembers going across the street from her home on the square to her mothers cafe to have her picture made. She relates that she stopped by the bank beside her home to pick up some daffodils for use in getting her picture made with her pet parrot. This picture is included in the book.
Betty's parents moved to Hayesville in the early 1930's. Her father was owner of several department stores in the towns in the area of Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. He and his brothers would buy surplus stock from department stores that were going bankrupt during the great depression. He found that he could buy this stock cheaply and able to resell the stock to the people in this area. He had small department stores in several small towns of the area.
The book covers her life growing up through high school graduation from Hayesville High School in 1952. This book will be enjoyed by everyone. Many of the antics Betty performed are recorded and her love for her family and the people in her home town are beyond belief.
I told her I would like to read them. She left the room and later returned with several large hat boxes. Opening one of the boxes she started pulling out paper table napkins with pencil hand writing on them. Seeing my puzzled look she said, "These are my poems."
Her mother operated a restaurant on the square in Hayesville, North Carolina. Young Betty would sit in her mother's cafe and write poems on table napkins. I found these poems to be very entertaining and I knew we should get them in the computer for safe keeping. Many of the poems were written before she was twelve years old. Each poem covers a specific event in her life and are placed in the book with relating content.
Betty said, "So many things have changed since our childhood. We grew up in such an innocent time, everyone had to struggle to manage during the depressed time, especially in the mountains. " We talked of how much fun we managed without spending money for anything.
Betty said,"I have always wanted to tell people what good times we had during that depressed period. I experienced so many things that people today have never heard of. "
That is how we began the publication of Winding Round the Square. Betty and I started immediately to prepare the book for publication. She would talk and I would enter the data into the computer. We scanned over two hundred photographs and the forty-eight poems to include in the book. Nine months later the book was published in January 2010.
During preparation of the book and data, I was completely impressed by the detail memory she had of all the events of her growing up. One article in the book was from her memoirs of before she was three years old. In one article she remembers going across the street from her home on the square to her mothers cafe to have her picture made. She relates that she stopped by the bank beside her home to pick up some daffodils for use in getting her picture made with her pet parrot. This picture is included in the book.
Betty's parents moved to Hayesville in the early 1930's. Her father was owner of several department stores in the towns in the area of Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. He and his brothers would buy surplus stock from department stores that were going bankrupt during the great depression. He found that he could buy this stock cheaply and able to resell the stock to the people in this area. He had small department stores in several small towns of the area.
The book covers her life growing up through high school graduation from Hayesville High School in 1952. This book will be enjoyed by everyone. Many of the antics Betty performed are recorded and her love for her family and the people in her home town are beyond belief.
Charles Thompson Winding Round the Square; Author Betty Benedict This book was jointly published by Charles Thompson and his wife Betty Benedict. Many articles praising the book have been published in papers and magazines, Citizen Times, Asheville North Carolina; Atlanta Journal News Paper; Clay County Progress, Hayesville, NC; New York Review of Books; Clay County Sentiniel, Hayesville, NC; If you go to Google and enter the book title, Winding Round the Square or Betty Benedict you will see the book is available around the world. http://www.bettybenedict.com/ http://www.papatstore.com/
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