A Fortunate Passage: Two Families' Journey Into the Heartland, by Grady Birdsong

ISBN 978-1-62137-065-9 (softcover), $15.95. 266 pages.
They journeyed from opposite ends of the globe into America’s heartland. Displaced by heart-wrenching circumstances and orphaned at age five, “Hiram” finds his way from devastated Georgia and its Civil War aftermath to an early Kansas frontier. Martha, the youngest daughter of Volga-German immigrants, struggles with a settler’s existence on an arid, primitive, high plateau of the “Great American Desert.” From their austere and troubled beginnings, both earnestly strive with courage and purpose to do that is right during their passage through life. They meet early in the century, and together they raise a family in the midst of a world at war. Their environment transforms from an established industrial society and begins steadily evolving into the age of technology. The story of their chaotic beginnings and continuing life challenges paints a poignant picture of life in the early 1900s society during this most “Fortunate Passage.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grady Birdsong grew up in central and southwest Kansas and attended Southwestern College in Winfield before enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1966. After serving two tours in the Northern I corps of Vietnam, he returned to Denver, Colorado, and finished his formal education formal education at Regis College. During his actual education, he traveled the world, enjoying a successful career in marketing and business development in the telecommunications, data, and cable/fiber-optic industries. Now retired, Grady lives with his wife, Pamela, in the Denver area, where he enjoys his grandchildren and spends his time writing, “puttering,” and hunting big game.