For the past few months, I’ve been living in what I’ve come to call “Dad’s love letter to his family.” By reading Dad’s words into a microphone, I managed to get the entire book into a text file. After I wrote a Forward and an Epilogue, I put it in eBook format. It’s here now for our whole family, all of Kempville, to read – on a computer or any mobile device.
The book is free (unless you purchase from Amazon store for $.99). All we ask is that you let us know by filling out the form below.
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iBook Version (.epub) – download then open in iBooks
Kindle Version (.mobi) – download on your computer, connect your Kindle device and transfer the file.
Kindle Store – Download a free sample or purchase the entire book ($.99) from your connected Kindle device.
Like most of the new recipients of THE BOOK, I could NOT put it down… it was a HIGHLIGHT of my Christmas this year…..no, THE highlight!
I always LOVED that my hubby wrote on our FIRST computer…and it was only a WORD PROCESSOR….and he poured his heart out. Pick and peck was his style and the printer was dot matrix!
So, when Ken shared excitedly what he had begun doing (he meant to keep it secret, but he just “couldn’t hold it all in”) I was thrilled. I had no idea that the Forward and Epilogue would so enhance what was in between! Ken also, poured his heart into this writing and kept in touch with Roger, who lovingly supplied old pictures (a HUGE job) to illustrate things Dad talked about.
Christmas nite, I read it ‘til after midnight and again the next day, 8:30 to 4:30…I did NOT want it to end! I will keep it out and refer to it OFTEN. It was a wonderful visit with my Sweetheart and I could “hear” him saying the content of the book, too, as Ken had told me he did.
I can’t thank Ken and Rog enough… for their commitment and deep enjoyment this has brought to all of us… it means so very, very much to me!!
From: Betsey Newenhuyse
Subject: MY MEMORIES
Date: December 29, 2015 at 9:53:48 AM PST
To: Ken’s Gmail
I have started to read your dad’s story.
So interesting, especially for a Chicago gal! I like how it’s in his voice and not all sanitized if you know what I mean. It reminds me a little of the life story of Paul Johnson, former head of Moody trustees, who wrote his bio for his grandkids. Modest upbringing in Detroit, self-made, became a successful builder in the postwar boom.
You read these stories and see how we’ve lost a lot of that social mobility…then again, look at some of our more enterprising immigrants.
Sent from my iPad
From: Grant Michels
Subject: Re: My Memories by Ed Kemp – READY FOR DOWNLOAD
Date: December 26, 2015 at 11:54:01 PM PST
To: Ken’s Gmail
This is amazing! Thank you uncle Ken! Just read for my kids about their grandmas birth. Too fun!!! Gonna enjoy this one. Love you!
Text Exchange between Ken and Vonnie posted 2015/12/29 at 5:58 pm
Had this text exchange with Vonnie Michels the day after Christmas:
VON: Wow–you had me crying in the intro– Loving this! The cover is also amazing–love the pictures you chose. So enjoying some time with Dad! Thank you for this amazing love gift to us, Ken!
KEN: Made my morning, sis. You get it. As you read, you’ll see how much I need an editor for the word perfect finished product. Feel free to be a part of my editing team for the second edition of eBook and looks like we’ll order a second run for the hard copy volume (We’ve got cousins who want a copy, etc.) It’s our story, isn’t it? What a gift Dad left us.
VON: What a gift this is, Ken–I am LOVING all the stories–you have made it so readable and added the pics and all–amazing. THANK YOU!!
VON: I just sent this page to Grant [she sent a photo of the page that tells the story of Uncle Walt] I did not remember that Uncle Walt was an engraver!
VON to GRANT: I’m totally loving reading my Dad’s memoirs that Ken made into a book. I didn’t know (or remember) that his uncle was an engraver in the Canadian mint!
KEN: I’ll also send the Obit for Wallace Erickson I found on line. It blew me away.
WALLACE ERICKSON’s OBITUARY from the Chicago Tribune (came up in a GOOGLE SEARCH) dated January 2003
Wallace A. Erickson, 91, of Chicago, a manufacturer of organic chemical materials used by dentists for teeth fillings and impressions, died Saturday, Jan. 25, from a brain aneurysm in Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview. When Mr. Erickson was a young man, his father, a dentist, tried to persuade him to choose the same profession. Instead, Mr. Erickson received his undergraduate and doctorate degrees in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago. Ultimately, Mr. Erickson fulfilled both his dream and his father’s by building a business, Wallace A. Erickson & Co., which provides the organic chemicals used by dentists, said his son, Arthur. In the early 1940s, Mr. Erickson served as an announcer for a radio program broadcast from Western Springs, “Songs in the Night,” hosted by Billy Graham and gospel singer George Beverly Shea. In the early 1960s, he became concerned about what he perceived as a lack of good management by many faith-based ministries and brought together founders and managers of about 80 such ministries every year to talk about good management principles. Mr. Erickson was comfortable with both religion and science playing an equal role in his life. “Science and the Bible were never antagonistic in his opinion,” his son said. “He always said the Bible told us why God did things and science told us how He did them.” Mr. Erickson was a former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Evangelical Foundation; served as a director of Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., and Young Life in Colorado Springs. Other survivors include another son, David; three daughters, Betty, Dorothea Gade and Dolores Johnson; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Services have been held.
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