Description
The inspiring story of one woman’s life and her response to a family tragedy.
Mary Gunderson, the daughter of Danish immigrants, tells the heartrending tale of settling in rural Minnesota just before the Great Depression. Hartland was her hometown until she moved to Iowa at the age of nine. Mary describes her checkered career as a country school teacher in the 1940s, which ends in a crushing nervous breakdown. She goes on to marry a farmer and raises eleven children, two of whom succumb to mental illness and suicide.
Mary’s recovery from this tragedy begins when she volunteers to start a chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) in her hometown, becoming a personal and political advocate for others suffering from mental illness. After disclosing her experience of mental illness and the family tragedy at a national forum, Mary is invited to Washington to tell her story to congressional delegates on Capitol Hill.
A prolific writer, Mary Gunderson kept diaries and journals most of her life. She wrote many letters and saved copies. She wrote and saved essays and articles. She researched and wrote the history of her Danish family. Before Mary died in 2000, she wrote a memoir which remained unpublished.
Ernie Gunderson, the third of Mary's eleven children, quit his twenty-four-year career in mechanical engineering the same year Mary died. He entered graduate school in 2005 to begin a new career in clinical social work. In the process of researching and writing papers, he discovered his love for writing and became fascinated with the large cllection of Mary's written work. A tour of Mary's chidhood home in Iowa inspired Ernie to resurrect and publish Mary's story.
ASIN: 0878395784
VSKU: BVV.0878395784.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Ernie Gunderson|Mary Gunderson
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
ASIN: 0878395784
VSKU: BVV.0878395784.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Ernie Gunderson|Mary Gunderson
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.