Graceful Lives summarizes the family history and descendents of William and Grace Lassey--parents of the authors. Th ey were both born and raised in western North Dakota, where their parents homesteaded in the early 20th Century. Th eir younger married years were a major challenge, as they tried to make a living on a farm in the depths of the Great Depression, while raising their children. Th ey overcame great odds to eventually prosper, while contributing mightily to their family, communi...

All across America, ordinary people are going out of their way to help one another and make our country a better place. Unheralded, unrecognized, and often taken for granted, these citizens continue their good deeds, happy just to make a difference.Hometown Heroes tells the stories of fifty such people from all over America, including Moody, Alabama, Ellisville, Illinois, and Lander, Wyoming. Spanning ages fourteen to ninety-three, the heroes inside this book show that it'...

is a story of a hyperactive child. Aspen has difficulty sitting still and paying attentionparticularly in school. She is a day-dreamer and has a different way of processing information. Aspens teacher is impatient and exasperated with her apparent lack of focus. Aspen, in turn, is upset with her teacher. Not able to deal with the tension, Aspen runs away from school. This is the story of how her adult friends and their advice help her, and how her teacher learns several ways she can assist...

Ever wondered how states got their names? Ever wonder how some sports teams got their names? Well in this book I take you on a logical yet total BS journey through the names! Example Chicago Bulls and Bears were the main dish at the great Chicago fire BBQ caused by Mrs. O'Leary's cow; so to commemorate the occasion the folks of Chicago named their future sports teams Bulls and Bears. More zany and complete BS stories are in store for you!

Where The West Lives! Golden's motto sums up the colorful history of the small town set at the entrance to the storied gold fields of Colorado. The scenic valley that shelters Golden caught the notice of some of the most famed pioneers of the West: explorer Major Stephen Long, world traveler Isabella Bird, showman Buffalo Bill Cody, and brewer Adolph Coors. Chronicled here in over 200 vintage images is the history of this quintessential "rough-and-ready" Western town. Serving as the territ...

Elk Grove's roots go back to 1850, when the community consisted of only a stage-stop hotel. In 1876, this small farm town in the shadow of Sacramento became a crossroads along the new railroad tracks. As the railroad era progressed, it brought significant changes to Elk Grove'fields were transformed into orchards, vineyards, and eventually, residential developments. But Elk Grove remained just a part of southern Sacramento County until citizens prevailed in their attempt to establish cityh...

Nestled in the Upper Nehalem Valley in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range, Vernonia still reflects its pioneer virtues of hard work and independence. The area was first homesteaded in 1874 by Clark Parker and John Van Blaricom. The earliest settlers saw the dense old-growth firs and cedars as an obstacle to overcome in establishing farms, but those big trees soon became the lifeblood of the town�s economy. Incorporated in 1891, Vernonia remained a small settlement with family-run farm...

Growing up in the shadow of Mount RushmoreLincoln Borglum was a young boy when his father, the great sculptor Gutzon Borglum, suggested to a group of South Dakota businessmen that he should carve the faces of four presidents into a side of a mountain as an attraction for tourists. But Mount Rushmore would never be finished by Gutzon. It would be his son who would complete the fourteen-year task and present America with one of its most iconic symbols.A Calif...

Vibrant and captivating Nevada City began as a gold-mining camp called Deer Creek Dry Diggins. The large gravel deposits alongside this creek reportedly delivered a pound of pay dirt a day by the fall of 1849, when A. B. Caldwell�s general store opened to supply this haphazard collection of tents. By March 1850, somewhere between 6,000 and 16,000 boisterous souls called it home, and the new town was christened �Nevada,� meaning �snow covered� in Spanish. After 1861, townsfolk took to addin...

Early in 1868, Francis �Barney� Prine arrived in the Crooked River Valley of Central Oregon, established a blacksmith shop made of logs, and dispensed spirits from the back of the cabin. Prine saw the potential for development and industry along the lush banks of Crooked River and Ochoco Creek, and as more and more settlers arrived, the post office of Prine was established in 1871. The community soon emerged as a major commercial center for Central Oregon, one of the last frontiers in the ...

First platted in the 1850s, and as legend tells it, named from an exclamation of settler William Clark waking to discover "what a Home, Sweet Home," this future lumber boom-town began as a stage stop on the road across the Cascade Mountains. With the arrival of the first freight train on April 1, 1932, Sweet Home became one of Linn County's most important industrialized towns. Crawfordsville, Holley, Fern Ridge, Liberty, Pleasant Valley, Foster, and Cascadia were all settled about the same...

The name Ozark comes from the French Aux Arcs. The town of Ozark may have gotten its name because it is at the bend of the creek. Today the term Ozark refers to the large upland region that covers parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Ozark, Missouri is nestled in the hills of this region and serves as the county seat of Christian County. This book looks at Ozark's 150 year history, using vintage photographs from the Pegram Collection to capture the spirit of the town and surr...