Ones Way Home

1918 was not a time when a young girl had a child without being married. When this situation happened in Dottie's grandmother's household it brought about events that shaped Dottie's life forever. Based upon the actual life events of my mother, this fictional story includes information, places and speculations as to why her life adventure began so young.

R. MICHAEL BUCK: Remembering the story my mother wove about her adoption in Iowa, and her early life adventure as a Train Child, often the idea of writing a book crossed my mind. As a teacher in Romulus, New York, she spent 40 years educating young students and effecting changes in their lives. When she passed a few years ago, I made the decision that someday I would try to tell her story. Born in 1949 in rural Upstate New York, Waterloo, Seneca Falls, and Geneva are towns I grew up hanging around, and parking around. I spent my school years in the Waterloo Central School District, and my free time interacting with the many Buck family members, the Zukowski brothers and the Utzman boys living close enough to walk to. But that could easily be a book itself! Following graduation from High School, I attended Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa as an undergraduate student in Music Education. When I graduated in 1971, I became a music teacher in Romulus, New York. Finlayson, Minnesota and South Beloit, Illinois, were next on my resume finally settling around Rockford, Illinois where I reside today. 35 years later, I am an elementary school principal, having received a Masters Degree from Northern Illinois University in 1993. Employed and stable, I decided to spend my evenings writing the story I promised myself I would write a couple years ago. This is the first publication in a series in which I will try to tell the story of growing up during a time in history when such rapid changes have occurred. I hope you enjoy getting to know Dottie and through her story, gain a better perspective on lifes challenges.