Browsing through the Tree Leaves

About the Book

This little book of remembrances from the childhood of the Cassidy family during the early decades of the last century brings to light happy and carefree times mixed with real life challenges of the era.  There are stories of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that go back before the turn of the century.  Cledith brings the reader into the lives and times of the family and the community in vivid detail with a warmth and charm that is both funny and poignant.

You are taken into the do-not-touch Victorian parlor of one stern grandmother and on to the little cabin of other grandparents where hymns were sung in the evening and grandchildren felt cherished. The touching life of this family from temporary residence in South Carolina to the home in West Baden is a true family saga that is timeless in its perspective. 

About the Author

Cledith Cassidy Tolbert was born with a pencil in her hand.  She printed her poems before she learned to write.  By age 14, she was writing club reports, society news, and community events for the French Lick newspaper, The Springs Valley Herald, owned by J. E. Gruber.  She would later become a reporter, news writer, proof reader and news editor for that same paper where she spent 25 years.

She has written plays spoofing the school days of yore.  Many were staged by her school mates and few, written for West Baden Alumni Banquets, were performed by former teachers to the delight of those present.

For a number of years Cledith was a reporter and feature writer for the Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal newspaper and the Indianapolis Star.  For two years she was a writer and assistant editor of Homespun, a Paoli, Indiana magazine founded by Clifford and Billie Cox. 

Her poems and feature articles have been published in numerous other publications.  Some of her writings make up a book which includes humorous and poignant items from her years of newspaper experience.

Most of the author’s life has been spent in Southern Indiana where she presently resides.