BROKEN CIRCUITS
A Memoir of Alzheimer's Disease in Four Voices
by
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BROKEN CIRCUITS: A FAMILY MEMOIR IN FOUR VOICES is a
history written by four adult children who are drawn together to care for a
74-year old father who is losing his role as the powerful family patriarch
through the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. Over the course of the next ten
years, each of his crises provides an opportunity for his children to recall
long-buried grievances and find the strength and compassion to forgive him. In
this process, they grow closer to each other and become a loving family.
While many books have been written about Alzheimer’s
disease and dementia, few have attempted to show the effects of the disease on
each member of a family. BROKEN CIRCUITS provides a Rashomon-like perspective
of a father who was once the dominating member of a Mormon household. As he
declines, his children must confront
his influence as flawed father and patriarch. There is Marilyn, the oldest, a
psychologist, lesbian and civil rights activist; Nancy, a Utah mother of seven
who is disappointed and angry at the fall from grace of her father and
siblings; Judy, a Texas mother of four, wife of a Mormon Stake President,
resentful of the expectations of her mother for involvement with the family;
and Dennis, who has worked beside his father for twenty years and cries out against
“the hard old German” in breathless gasps and yelps, then turns to alcohol for
relief.
The oldest and the youngest have withdrawn from the
Mormon church, but come to realize the powerful lessons they have learned from
both their father and mother, stories of their ancestors-- hard-working
pioneers and farmers who believed in a peculiar religion that called its
converts to the harsh landscape of the West. The middle two daughters question
their own faith as they see their father “eaten by this awful disease” and
wonder at the mercy and justice of their creator.
Although several books have successfully portrayed
the effects of Alzheimer’s on family members, few have allowed individual
members to speak from their own hearts.
BROKEN CIRCUITS shows a real family whose grief instructs their understanding
not only of their father, but of their religious beliefs as well. An additional perspective is offered by the
family physician, whose chart notes introduce each chapter and allow the reader
to understand how the family often denies the reality of their father’s
illness. His kind and patient support eventually brings the family to an
acceptance of the loss of their father and the strength to move forward as an
honest and trusting family.
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About the Book
BROKEN CIRCUITS tells the heart-warming story of four adult children who have lost their connections, not only to each other, but to a once-powerful father who is now losing his battle with Alzheimer's Disease.
While many books have been written about Alzheimer's disease and dementia, few have attempted to show individual differences in family members who cope with its eventual devastation. The oldest child, Marilyn, a psychologist and professor, is the primary narrator, who attempts to draw her brother and two sisters back to the family home; Nancy, her sister, is a Utah mother of seven, who must overcome her anger at her father's ridicule and rejection in order to care for him; Judy, her second sister, is a Texas mother of four, who avoids her parents' demands and covers her guilt with work and food; her brother, Dennis, the father of two, disappears into alcohol and regret over his years of sacrifice to his father's business; and finally, there is Vivian. the Mormon mother, who denies the catastrophe of her husband's illness and rejects her children's offers of assistance; Finally, each of the family members finds a way to confront the past and move forward to become a stronger and more loving family. Through reading their experiences, the reader will gain new perspectives on the power of family bonds and loyalty.
About the Author
MARILYN MEHR, Ph.D., is presently a part-time professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York, a psychologist and writer. Formerly, she was a Professor of Family Medicine, at the University of Kentucky Medical School as well as Chair of the Department of Health Psychology, at the California School of Professional Psychology, in Los Angeles.
For several years, Dr. Mehr maintained a large clinical practice devoted primarily to family counseling. Many of her clients have been older adults, some of them afflicted with Alzheimer's and dementias. She has presented widely in the medical and psychological community on issues of family dynamics, women's health, as well as gay and lesbian medical care.
In 1993, she co-authored The Courage to Achieve, , with her partner of thirty-three years, Dr. Betty Walker. She has also completed a novel, WHITEROCKS, based upon the experience of Mormon immigrants in Utah in the early 1900's. She is Co-President of the Universalist Unitarian Congregation of the South Fork, in Long Island, New York, where she also sings in the choir.
NANCY ANN MEHR SNELL is the mother of seven children and lives in Highland, Utah, with her husband, Lee. She is also the grandmother of fifteen--ten boys and five girls. She works part-time as a secretary for the Alpine/Highland Police Department in Alpine, Utah. She has taught high school French and English and is a graduate of Brigham Young University. Additionally, she has been the editor of The Highland Piper, a community newspaper, for five years. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), she was Relief Society President for three-and-a half years, but is happy at this time to be a teacher in the Primary Organization for ten-year old boys.
JUDITH E. MEHR OLSON, Ph.D., currently teaches in the Department of Language, Literaracy and Special Populations, at Sam Houston State University, in Huntsville, Texas, where she has lived with her husband and four children for over thirty years. For ten years, she was the founding Director of the Learning Assistance Center, where she developed and implemented programs for immigrant English language students. With her husband, James, she has authored a book about Cuban-Americans. She has served two terms as Relief Society President of her local Latter-Day Saint congregation. Her adult children and twelve grandchildren continue in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents to learn, to achieve and to serve.
DENNIS REID MEHR is the son of Alma and Vivian Reid Mehr and has served proudly and honorably in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. Upon his return, he successfully managed Mehr Distributing Company with his father. While he has traveled widely, he has always called California his home, where he remained near his parents during their later years. His education in the school of life has been broad and varied. He both admired and worked beside people who took little for granted and made their own opportunities. He and his wife, Linda Brunelle, are the parents of two children and two grandchildren, who delight and enchant them. He is currently in the enviable position of playing golf whenever he wishes.