I had the privilege to meet and interview five authors from here in the Ozarks—with books about the Ozarks. They were doing a book signing at the Owen Theatre before the movie, "Shepherd of the Hills," starring John Wayne, Betty Field and Harry Carey. This movie was released July 18, 1941. Jim Owen showed it here at the theater at that time, although there were people protesting it showing here.
I will do a follow-up article on the different happenings going on at the Owen Theatre here in Branson, so be sure to stay tuned for that.
Here is an introduction to the authors:
Marilyn Michel Whetstone was born in Rockaway Beach, MO, and attended her schooling all in Branson. She is a "fifth generation" Branson native on both sides of her family. Her mother was from Eastern Taney Co., and her dad was from Branson. Growing up in Branson was a simpler and a better time. Population was approximately 2,000 people at that time. Tourists weren't seen after Labor Day. Rockaway Beach was a tourist area at that time, more so than Branson. When you were younger, you went to the Owen Theater for movies on Saturdays, then had five-cent ice cream cones at Alexander Drug which was located in what is now Clockers. The "older kids" would sit in the balcony during the movies and kiss, so they wouldn't get caught. You were always wondering if the boy you sat with at the movies was going to "hold your hand." The whole school would be here, and you always wondered who would be with who for that week. A quarter would pretty much have you set for the day.
Marilyn found family history that she wasn't aware of by talking to family cousins. She came from a family of 12 siblings, so she has around 40 cousins, and 25 lived here in Branson. She would tell the stories of her childhood to her husband, and he would always tell me to write a book about it. But I didn't think my life was that special, but as I grew older, I discovered that it was a special time. My family was a solid family inspiration to me, times were harder, and they survived and thrived through it all.
Marilyn's book is available at the Branson Centennial Museum here in Branson, MO.
Howard C. Cavner was born in Monett, MO, before the family moved to Branson when he was six months old. In fact, he was raised at 611 W. Pacific St., to be accurate. Howard attended all his school years in the Branson School system, then graduated from School of the Ozarks. He enjoyed growing up in the time of Branson when he did.
Howard said that he was nurtured by several people that he likes to call "saints," which is part of the title of his book, "Ozark Saints." They were not perfect people but were good. He wrote this book because he wanted to preserve the events and memories of a better time; he also wrote his book for documentation preservation of stories of that time. He was a campus minister at Missouri State for 34 years and would share these stories with them. They couldn't believe that they were true, and most of them are. He states that he will leave that up to your imagination. When he was writing this book, he shared one short story about his father being in World War II in the Army. He landed at Normandy on the third day. His dad would not speak about this time, as most of the veterans of this war. Howard was sorting through his Army papers and discovered that his father was awarded five bronze medals, which is unheard of. It showed the different Theater of Battles that he was involved in, like for instance the Signal Battle.
When Howard graduated from the School of the Ozarks, he worked for a year before moving to Columbia, MO. He attended graduate school at the University of Missouri to study demographics and got a Master’s in World Sociology. The idea of becoming a minister was introduced to him by his minister when he was younger. He had been working as a research analyst for Jefferson City, MO. Howard attended a three-year seminary graduate program at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. After graduating, he became the campus minister at Southwest Missouri State University, now called Missouri State University. He went on to have a career of 34 years before retiring in 2018. He shared that Branson was a great place to grow up, being raised by saints called "Snowball Hasket" - Macey Knoll, Bill Mosely, Edna and Delbert Canote - to just name a few of those "Saints."
Howard's book is available on Amazon, at the Branson Centennial Museum, and Dick’s 5 & 10.
Curtis Copeland was born in the Eastern Ozarks and at four years old, his family relocated to south of Springfield, MO, and he attended all his schooling in Springfield. He has then worked in the Branson for the past 26 years. Living in the area is so much better than living in other areas that he visited. The other areas that include the coasts, mountains, cities and places have their own beauty and uniqueness to them, but it's always great to come home and live in this area. There is no place like living in the Ozarks! In his book, "Mildred Quit Hollering," he found out a lot about who Vance Randolph was and the people that Vance wrote about. Vance was the Ozarks premier folklore and folk song collector. Curtis always thought the people were going to be hill people that lived way back in the woods and hills, but found out that they were from all walks of life like townspeople and country folk. Vance was asked to go to Hollywood in the 1930s and help with movies about the Ozarks since he had completed so much research about the Ozarks.
The city people of Hollywood wanted to stereotype hill people of the Ozarks in a negative way, so he didn't stay in Hollywood; he didn't agree with it. Vance Randolph was working on the unpublished manuscript of this book in the late 1970s in a nursing home. But he wasn't able to complete the book as he passed away in 1980. Curtis enjoyed doing the research of the "informants" of this manuscript because they were Ozarkians from the 1920s through the 1950s. "Learning about their way of life from that time, I felt like a detective looking for all the clues, that brought all those tales to life in the writings of the book," he stated.
Curtis' books are available on Amazon, ClamPress.com, and at the Branson Centennial Museum.
Tom Koop was born in Kansas City, MO, and lived in the area for 30 years in the Springfield area. Living in the big urban area wasn't as pleasurable as living in this area where nature and the history are plentiful. Tom and Curtis collaborated together on this book, "On the River." One thing that he found in researching for the writing of this book was that float fishing was quite a big business and brought numerous people here, which helped with the bringing of tourism to the area. Jim Owen would be one of the people from this area that would engage and profit in this business. Jim had one of the biggest float outfits of the area. Tom enjoys the research and interviewing the whole process of writing the books.
He stated that he learns so much more information through this process of the area. Tom has other books as well.
Tom's books are available on Amazon, retail places here in Branson, and at the Branson Centennial Museum.
Todd Parnell was born and raised in Branson. He loved being raised here because Branson was an informal town, and he grew up on the Roark Creek next to his grandparents. All the kids played together, fished together and it was a simpler time. All his books (14 in all) that he has written have the water theme included in them. He wants people to understand about the water, protecting the water quality and the Ozarks in them. He feels and loves that these are the most important and unique qualities of the Ozarks. He has discovered so much history, color and the uniqueness of the Ozarks every time that he researches the writings of a new book. He wrote the book, "Trails of the Heart" about the hiking trips on the Buffalo River that he did with his son. Also, other hikings with his family. Patty Parnell (Todd's aunt) was on one of the float trips that was featured in the 1941 Life magazine, and this is one of the stories in his book.
He would like to express, "That he would like people to protect the unique character of the Ozarks, through its history, and the special water quality issues. We've got to protect the water, it's incredible and unlike anywhere else."
Todd's books are available on Amazon, and at his website, toddparnell.com.
Thank you all! Hope that you enjoyed meeting some of the great authors that we call our own around these hills. lease support them by getting their books. We gotta keep our Ozark history alive.
Until next time, I am Luanna Fullerton, off to the next adventure.
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