FAREWELL TO ROSEGATE: THE JOAN KIGER STORY

About the Book

From the Authors Since writing my book, “A Dream Within a Dream,” in 2008, the enigmas of the Kiger family have slowly been peeled away, revealing pain, suffering, regret, and forgiveness. My wife, Barbara, a psychologist who has worked with adolescent girls and their families for the last thirty years, has been very curious as to how such a tragedy could have taken place in this seemingly “normal” family. After many late night discussions and debates, we decided to write a play exploring how this horrific incident affected the survivors, Joan and her mother. We wanted the play to highlight Joan as she transitioned from an innocent 15 year old to a 16 year old marred by fate and the legal system . And what about Jennie? What was life like for her after her family was totally destroyed by this inexplicable event? In our writing process, we each seemed to gravitate to those scenes which somehow spoke to something deep within us. For Barbara, it was the mother- daughter relationship and Joan’s metamorphosis: becoming the young woman who guides her mother toward forgiveness and truth; and for me, it was about the machinations of men interested more in their own fame, fortune and survival than in helping a troubled teenager. Our thanks to all who have contributed to the search for what happened to this family that fateful year of 1943 and to the Boone County Historical Society under the guidance of Asa Rouse and Bruce Ferguson who were the first to bring this story from the yellowed pages of sixty- year old newspapers to their recreation of the Kiger murder trial.

About the Author

Barbara and Hal have been married for over 30 years and both have enjoyed writing -- only they have done so separately. Hal, who was as former English Teacher and counselor, has written “A Dream Within a Dream,” and Barbara, who is as psychologist and corporate consultant, has written a number of professional books including “My Mother was Right!”, “The Balanced Life,” “Brief Therapy and Eating Disorders,” to mention few. Dexter is their first joint effort. It has been a labor of love although the manuscript was shelved for a good many years. They both felt that this was the time to bring Dexter and Irma to life. Somehow the state of current times seemed to awaken the passion they both felt for the struggles the human condition and our Western culture imposes upon us. Their son, Casey Ryan, for whom the book was first written when he was just 7 years old, is a thriving and successful wealth management consultant living in Syracuse, NY, with his wife, Peggy.