Forever Herself: A Son's Memoir of a Remarkable Woman

by Kerry L Stevens, Berthella Stevens (Contribution by)

Overview

A strong woman embraces life on her own terms, bringing blessings and tears.

Berthella Stevens is a Renaissance woman full of hope and ahead of her time in 1960s Indiana. While some women of her era feel stifled, she is unafraid to express herself, reveling in beauty, writing, and natural living. She relishes the freedom while enduring the loneliness it brings to her rural home. But when she’s banished from the family farm, her world is changed forever.

Berthella died without achieving her lifetime dream of publishing a book. Kerry L Stevens fulfills the dream of his maverick mother by telling her remarkable and poignant story, sprinkled with her poetry and prose.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732426610
Publisher:	Six Points Publishing
Publication date:	10/09/2018
Pages:	370
Sales rank:	989,293
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Kerry L Stevens is the lead author of Forever Herself: A Son's Memoir of a Remarkable Woman. His late mother, Berthella Stevens, is the contributing author. Kerry fuses Berthella's prose and poetry with his memories of their unique relationship to tell the endearing tale of his maverick mom.

Kerry's literary journey began in third grade with an illustrated book of flying saucers written on thick, manila paper bound together with white paste. Since writing that first book and growing up in Indiana farm country, Kerry has written dozens of essays for his family magazine, completed creative writing classes with the Writers' League of Texas, and serves on the board of the San Gabriel Writers League.

To nourish his heart, mind and soul, Kerry has helped lead two non-profits, taught youth Sunday school for twenty years, summited Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, and currently leads church ministries focused on poverty, race relations, and environmental stewardship.

He is retired and lives near Austin Texas, with his wife of more than thirty years. They have a grown daughter.

More info available at www.KerryLStevens.com

Berthella Stevens is the contributing author of Forever Herself: A Son's Memoir of a Remarkable Woman. Her son, Kerry L Stevens, the lead author, fuses Berthella's prose and poetry with his memories of their unique relationship to tell the endearing tale of his maverick mom.

Berthella began writing in middle school with a poem imagining what a blind person "saw." Her unique perspective on the world brought a lifetime of challenges, but writing provided a lifetime of joy. She wrote poetry for many decades, plus children's, middle grade, and adult fiction, along with narrative non-fiction essays and a weekly human interest column in the local newspaper of her Indiana farming community. Several pieces were internally published in professional organizations to which she belonged.

Overcoming the adversity of the Great Depression and a fatherless home, Berthella embraced the world beyond the gender expectations of her day. With an insatiable curiosity, she was inspired by the beauty of nature, flower gardening, natural living, music, and her faith.

She was married to Kerry's father for sixty-five years and raised six children. Berthella died in 2011.

More info available at www.KerryLStevens.com

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Introduction

SPRING

Spring Prelude: The Dawn of Promise

Chapter 1: A Leap for Love

Chapter 2: Stolen Dreams

Chapter 3: Broken Promises

Chapter 4: Heaven’s Borderland

Chapter 5: In the Beginning

Chapter 6: New Adventures

SUMMER

Summer Prelude: Fullness of Life

Chapter 7: Freedom Unlocked

Chapter 8: A Love Affair with Flowers

Chapter 9: Kitchen Connection

Chapter 10: Labor of Love

Chapter 11: More Than an Emotion

Chapter 12: D is for Didactic

Chapter 13: Baby

Chapter 14: Crazy for Life

Chapter 15: Crisis and Credibility

Chapter 16: Au Naturel

Chapter 17: Gifts of the Sky

Chapter 18: Feathers of Love

Chapter 19: A Greater Love

FALL

Fall Prelude: The Harvest

Chapter 20: Riding Through the Rainbow

Chapter 21: Sounds of Silence

Chapter 22: Spreading Wings

Chapter 23: Belt of Truth

Chapter 24: Mirror of Prejudice

Chapter 25: Three Loves

Chapter 26: Greed to Grace

Chapter 27: Love Letters

Chapter 28: Matters of the Heart

Chapter 29: Music of the Years Gone By

Chapter 30: Lonely Heart

Chapter 31: The Space Between Us

WINTER

Winter Prelude: Season of Loss

Chapter 32: As Time Goes By

Chapter 33: Saying Goodbye

Chapter 34: Legacy of Jewels

Chapter 35: Spring Awaits

Acknowledgements

Notes

Editorial Reviews

“The memoir recounts Stevens’ childhood memories, but it’s truly about Berthella, with each chapter painting another stroke in a portrait of an exceptional woman. Stevens...has a gift for describing ordinary things in beautiful, artistic ways... Each chapter draws the reader in.”

- Kirkus Reviews

“A fabulous memoir that is heartfelt and dramatic."

- Author Amy Shannon, of Amy's Bookshelf Reviews

“The words maverick and mother are not usually synonymous, but in FOREVER HERSELF, Kerry L Stevens’ “love letter” to his mother,...Stevens beautifully fuses memories of his childhood with Berthella’s strength, poetry and essays. The combination inspires the discovery of our individual uniqueness and the courage to be our own person.”

- Sylvia Dickey Smith, award-winning author of the

Sidra Smart Mystery Series, A War of Her Own, and Original Cyn.

From the Publisher