Once Upon a Time

This is the story of what it was like to live as a boy on a farm on Beech Fork Creek, in rural Wayne County, West Virginia, in the 1940s and 50s, a place that had changed little since the late 1800s up until World War II. It is a tale of the big changes coming at that time, including the first paving of the roads, the coming of electricity to the area, and the integration of many small one-room schools into more consolidated elementary schools. All changes billed as modernization and progress bring some good things and some challenges as well, and the stories recounted in this book give a true-live view of those changes and their effects as told by a man who lived them. The dramas, the humor, and the small details of life as lived in that place and time are portrayed here with the voice of a storyteller who heard and valued many stories, and who loved the people, the place, and the times. The book also contains many poems evoking the country life as well as poems devotional in nature.