The Way It Was
A Boyhood Memoir 1934-1948
by
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The poet, William Wordsworth, has a line in one of his poems ("My Heart Leaps Up"), which reads, "The Child is the father of the Man." In writing this memoir, it has become evident to me that the child I was to a very large extent is the adult person I have become. Who we are as children is often a good clue as to who we shall become as we grow into adulthood.. My life long pursuit and love of art, my value of place, my interest in relationships nurtured both in family and neighbors, my persistent proclivity for reading, my inclination toward the Ultimate Mystery of life which was awakend for me in the church, and my disinclination toward the viiolent and the hurtful, are revealed in this memoir. And these same inclinations, to a large extent, characterize the person I am today. I realize that imbedded with the first fourteen years of my life were the seeds of the person I became. The lesson: pay attention to your childhood. You are never too old to do that. To actualize the truth of the ancient adage, "know Thyself" one needs to know the "child" who will become the man.
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About the Book
This book is a memoir of my boyhood, the 14 years between 1934 and 1948, Memory is the way we allow the past to live in the present. But the past is not experienced in a vacuum. Memories have locations in a particular time and particular places. Th is brief memoir is attempt to share my boyhood as shaped by the Great Depression of the 1930’s and the World War II years of the 1940’s. In the writing of these pages it became evident to me that indeed the experiences of my childhood have greatly shaped the person I am today. It is hoped that this modest memoir may at once be an enjoyable read as well as encourage the reader to recall his or her own childhood days and reflect upon how that time may have shaped their lives.
About the Author
Donald H. Brown is a retired United Methodist Pastor. Growing up in Allendale, N. J. in the 1930’s and 1940’s, Don knew what it was like to grow up in “small town USA”. In this brief memoir, he writes of how the closing years of the Great Depression and World War II years provided the milieu in which his boyhood was shaped and experienced In addition to his vocation as a clergyman, Don’s drawing and painting have been an ongoing avocation of his. The tension between his call to ministry and his love of art is a persistent theme thoughout his memoir. Don, and his wife Gail, have 4 children and 12 grandchildren, for whom this memoir was written. He currently resides in his home town of Allendale, N. J..