Missionary Memories

Based on true stories, “Missionary Memories” recalls the life of a 93 year old father whose son attempts to learn more about his father and, in doing so, hears for the first time, many extraordinary stories of his father’s experiences as a part-time medical missionary that took him from his dental practice in western PA to a remote village in western Africa, Latin America, Haiti, Mexico, and Thailand. The book contains many stories of the father's missionary experiences, and details the difficult lives of the people he visited, and the hardships they faced not having medical or dental care. The story also recounts many of the difficulties his son had dealing with his father's declining health, and the complexities of today's health care system eventually ending in hospice care. The son anguishes over many of the decisions he had to make until a friend, who had recently lost her husband, gives him some good advice. The book ends when the son finds a letter the father had written giving him final instructions for his life. The author's second book, "Nanna (or How to Eat an Elephant)" is a fictional story stronly inspired by his church's missionary activities in rural Appalachia.