All of the Book

This is Lavern R. Gibson.  Today I had an unexpected visit with Lavern and received the best compliment about The Camino Letters.

I've known Lavern for a long time, relatively speaking.  I live in a small village called Millbrook near where Lavern was born and where has spent all of the last 92 years of his life.  He remembers a time when Millbrook had a hospital.  Lavern had his tonsils out there at the age of 12, on a kitchen table which was used as an operating table.

Lavern knows everything about Millbrook and has the pictures to prove it.  He has pictures of things long gone, and his memory holds all of the rest.  He also has objects, like the only private telephone from the Fallis Line where they used to lay the phone lines over the fence because that was all that could be done with them.

Lavern knows many things, particularly about mechanics and about history.  He was the Reeve of Millbrook for many years.  He had an autobody shop downtown for over fifty years.  He has spent his long life thinking, and fixing, and doing - not reading. 

A couple of weeks ago, I saw Lavern and impulsively thrust a copy of my newly printed book into his hands.  Today, Lavern came to see me and told me that he very much enjoyed the book.  He said that he enjoyed all of it.  Then, he told me that The Camino Letters is the only book that he has read cover to cover since he left school at age 16.  That would have been 1934.   Lavern said that he couldn't put this book down.  How about that.