Child of the Mountains

AUTHOR’S NOTE




I am a child of the mountains. West Virginia has been home to ancestors on both sides of my family since the late seventeen hundreds. My father’s family, originally named Schenck, emigrated to the United States from Switzerland, Germany, and England. Some of my mother’s family also came from England, but others came from France and Italy. My great-great-grandmother on my mother’s side was Cherokee, and like Lydia, “I’m right proud of that.”

Ancestors from both families eventually settled in the section of Virginia that became West Virginia during the Civil War. I have distant relatives who fought on both sides of the war that pitted brother against brother. Most Virginians who lived west of the Appalachian Mountains aligned with the Union, and delegates to the Wheeling Convention in what became known as West Virginia Independence Hall voted to secede from Virginia. President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation that granted West Virginia statehood on June 20, 1863.

Some of the Schencks were Mennonites fleeing religious persecution in Europe. After one of my father’s ancestors was excommunicated in the United States for marrying outside the Mennonite community, he became Baptist, a faith he passed to many of his descendants. The deep faith treasured by many Appalachians, myself included, probably stems from ancestors who were willing to sacrifice everything for their beliefs.

My father’s family lived on Paradise Hill in Putnam County and later moved to Kanawha County. Many of my mother’s ancestors settled in Jackson and Mason counties, and some eventually took flatboats to Kanawha County, where my parents met and I was born. I grew up in Charleston, the urban capital of West Virginia, but I loved to visit relatives in the country.

People in Putnam County like to say, “You have to go through Confidence and Liberty before you get to Paradise,” using those three towns as a metaphor for life. Although Confidence was never a coal camp, I chose it to symbolize Lydia’s need to find confidence in her faith and her sense of self before she could return to Paradise.

Some of the scenes in Child of the Mountains reflect reallife events. My father, his four brothers, and their sons turned intellectual curiosity into mischief when they were kids, much as BJ did. For example, my uncle Lowell slipped raisins into jars of his mother’s homemade root beer to see if they would ferment. And yes, the jars exploded.

The voices of Lydia and her family mirror those of my childhood. Friends and relatives I loved and respected spoke the lyrical language of the hills. Many of Gran’s sayings come from my father, a scientist, who loved Appalachian metaphor and wit. My mother switched easily from Appalachian dialect to standard English, depending on the people around her. And to this day, if you get me riled up, you just might hear me say something like “I ain’t never going to do that, no way, nohow!”

I haven’t always felt comfortable with the dialect of my heritage. I stopped saying “boosh” and “poosh” for bush and push and “feeshin’ ” for fishing when I tired of the teasing in college. No doubt I lost something important when I changed who I was for other people. So when I think of the young woman Lydia will become, I believe she too will struggle with her identity as her circumstances change.

Historically, West Virginians were an open, trusting people. However, when coal companies hired outlanders to rob West Virginians of their land and exploit the state’s resources for personal gain, mistrust of those outside the region grew. Not only West Virginians but Appalachians in general tend to value close bonds with family, friends, and neighbors. They will lend a helping hand when someone is in need, just as Lydia’s family reached out to others.

I chose to set Child of the Mountains during the year I was born. As I began researching the year 1953, I discovered that my decision was appropriate for the story. West Virginia experienced a severe drought that year, which seemed to reflect the drought Lydia experienced in her life. The polio epidemic also reached its peak then, with so many children hospitalized that beds had to be placed in hallways, as in an important scene in the novel.

I was hospitalized twice as a child during the 1950s and remember only one compassionate nurse. Doctors and nurses seemed to be concerned only about disease and running an orderly hospital, not about the emotional needs of a frightened child. Doctors stood around my bed daily and talked about me but not to me. BJ has the same experience during his stays in the hospital. I’m thankful that today, children’s research hospitals, unlike the fictional hospital in the story, are more sensitive to patients’ and families’ need for support.

William Casey Marland was governor of West Virginia from 1952 to 1956. He tried to establish a severance tax on natural resources, including coal, of ten cents per ton, which would have greatly enhanced the state’s economy and helped improve highways and schools. The legislature was heavily influenced by the coal industry, however, so the tax didn’t pass. Marland also worked hard to implement desegregation in West Virginia after the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, which Lydia’s teacher discusses in class.

I benefitted from that governor’s efforts. An early attempt at desegregation involved placing African American teachers in schools with mostly European American students. My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Bette Nowling, was one of those teachers. You will find her mentioned in the acknowledgments, and I chose her last name for Jake’s family.

Given the deep ties I have to West Virginia, I’m not surprised that one day, while I was home in Alabama, sitting at my computer preparing lessons for my college students, I heard a girl’s West Virginia voice in my head say, “My mama’s in jail. It ain’t right.” I tried to return to my work, but the voice persisted. I finally opened a new file and wrote the first page of what I originally titled Paper Covers Rock. At the time, I had no idea that the small voice I heard would become Child of the Mountains.

The poverty Lydia’s family experiences is still rampant in many parts of West Virginia and throughout Appalachia. Tragically, some young people are turning to drugs, alcohol, and even suicide to escape extraordinarily challenging circumstances. It’s my hope that, like Lydia, children of the mountains will find the faith and courage they need to sustain them through difficult times, remembering that better days will come. And if they require help, people will be there for them. They only need to ask.

Montani semper liberi.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS




Thank you to:

My agent, Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency, for guiding me through the editing and publishing process with unwavering support and belief in this manuscript.

My editor, Françoise Bui, for embracing Appalachia and helping this manuscript achieve its potential.

Copy editor Joy Simpkins, a fellow West Virginian, for maintaining the integrity of the characters’ dialect and voices.

My niece Jennifer Wilkes and nephew Matthew Shank for sharing their West Virginia childhoods with me.

My cousin Gary Shank, whose timely phone calls reminded me of this novel’s purpose and motivated me to stay focused to complete it.

The BC Babes and Guys, writers extraordinaire, for encouragement, helpful suggestions, and a few laughs.

Extended family, especially Elsie Borsch, Betty Slater, Sarah Roberts, Lucian and Betty Shank, Lorene Shank, and Louise Steele, for sharing their West Virginia recollections. Other family and friends, especially Kathy Shank, Charles Borsch, Sarah Kroemer, Debbie Petry, Cindy Rango, Jim and Terry Sue Shank, Roberta Shank, Terry Shank, William and Wanda Shank, Dot Sheely, Pat and Kay Seaton, Mike Slater, Joe and Kim Trotta, Martha Adams, Ralph and Mary Allison, Mehrzad Araghi, Sandy Barker, Linda Bishop, Jo Blackwood, Bettie Bullard, Müzeyyen Çiyiltepe, Jim and Suzy Efaw, Sue Forsbrey, Ross Harrison, Diann Hindman, Barbara Holmes, Jimmy Jones, Bill and Dorothy Leal, John MacCallum, Catherine Moore, Joyce McNeill, Gilbert and Sandra McClanahan, Donna Rogers, Sandy Tritt, Debbie Troxclair, Rud and Ann Turnbull, and Carolyn Whitlock, for their encouragement and support of my writing and during challenging times.

The McClarahans and the Shamblins, for exemplifying what it means to be good neighbors.

Members and conference faculty of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, especially Joan Broerman, Anne Dalton, Jo Kittinger, and Han Nolan for teaching, inspiring, and sometimes cajoling me.

Barbara Kouts for her support during a crucial phase in the manuscript.

The Highlights Foundation for the scholarship to Chautauqua, an experience that helped me believe in myself as a writer.

Faculty and participants of the 2003 Highlights Chautauqua Conference, especially faculty member Patricia Gauch; my mentor, Dayton Hyde; and my roommate, Linda Lyman, who were in the right place at the right time to touch my life and enrich my writing.

District Magistrate Charles Conway for use of his swearing-in statement and for providing helpful recommendations.

Kyle Edwards, for telling me what it feels like to have sickle-cell disease.

Librarians at the West Virginia Cultural Center, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Kanawha County Public Library, Cross Lanes Public Library, South Charleston Public Library, and Putnam County Public Library for answering numerous questions and guiding me toward important research.

My fourth-grade teacher, Bette Nowling, for telling me she loved to read my stories.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marilyn Sue Shank, a proud West Virginian, earned her PhD in special education from the University of Kansas, where she majored in learning disabilities and behavior disorders and minored in counseling psychology and families with disabilities. She has taught general and special education at the elementary, secondary, and college levels.

Marilyn’s work has been published in professional journals, and she coauthored the first four editions of Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today’s Schools. Child of the Mountains is her first work of fiction. She lives in West Virginia with her three rescued dogs, including one named Ears.