I, RG Bud Phelps, am sharing information about Gibbon’s Secrets with young fans at the Nebraska State Fair this Labor Day 2012. This particular group of youngsters were from St. Paul, Nebraska and happened to be the same age that I was during the 1940’s when growing up in Gibbon, Nebraska. I shared a picture of myself at nine (it is the group picture of my 3rd grade class I used as the cover picture for Gibbon’s Secrets) with the young boy you see in the picture with the yellow shirt. This group of young people included three young girls and the boy I just mentioned and they were a delight to talk to. I am so encouraged to hear them talk about the fun they find in reading historical fiction stories like Gibbon’s Secrets.
Another young girl (10 years old) was talking to my wife Pat, and telling her how she enjoyed reading stories like Gibbon’s Secrets. Pat had told her a little about the book (A Boy’s Memories of the 40’s) and she said she was going to ask her Dad to buy the book for her and wanted me to sign it. She did bring her Dad back, and he bought her the book which I was pleased to sign for her. Her Dad told her, “Since I’m buying it for you I get to read it first, because it also sounds interesting to me.” She said, “Okay, but I’m the one that found it, and so I should be able to read it first.” These are the little things that make a book signing so great, thank goodness for young people that love to read.
Another incident that blew me away was when I was walking through the GROW Nebraska store and saw this vet, with his vest full of patches, looking at my book Gibbon’s Secrets. I introduced myself and told him about my Dad leaving me three scrap books full of World War II clippings that I used to make a Time Line of the battles at the end of each year in the book. He said that he did love history, but he saw something in the book that really made him want to buy it. I asked him what that was and he flipped back to the Photo Section toward the end of the book and pointed at the picture of the 2nd house that I lived in in Gibbon. He said, “I grew up in that house right there in Gibbon.” I asked him when that was, and he told me his folks moved into that particular house in 1944. We moved from Gibbon, from that very house, in 1944. It certainly is a small world. His name was Larry Andersen and he still lives in Gibbon, but presently not in that house.
This is the house that I moved from in 1944 and Larry’s family moved into in 1944
I didn’t sell a ton of books at the Nebraska State Fair, but didn’t really do too bad, and meeting the individuals I did in the three days that I signed my books was reward enough. From the young people I met and shared stories with, to the vets I talked with (mostly from the Korean Conflict and Vietnam), to the Seniors on “Senior Day”, and the individuals that either were from Gibbon, knew someone that was, or lived close enough to understand how it must have been growing up during the 1940’s.
It was a very good experience at the 2012 Nebraska State Fair.
