Lover's Bequest

About the Book

About the Author

Although he earned a living for his large family as a carpenter, Fred Reynold Whitesell was a poet at heart. The building blocks of his poetry were constructed with all the skill and dedication of a master carpenter. He described the process as similar to the laying of a brick or stone wall, block upon block, (thought upon thought) until the pieces form a whole. In his later years, the clatter of his old typewriter often continued throughout the night as these works were constructed. As a child growing up in rural northeastern Pennsylvania in the early years of the twentieth century, Fred became a very avid reader. Reading everything from the classics of American and English literature to Jack London and Horatio Alger, he in his own words, assimilated a “conglomeration of literature.” Although formal education ended for Fred before age 16, he developed vocabulary and writing skills that would be the envy of many college grads today. His passion for the Bible combined with these skills and interests to form the foundation for the poetry produced in the last decade of his life. The hundreds of poems created after the death of his wife in 1965 were expressions of his closeness to God, family and the land he loved. His walk with God for many years gave him inspiration and many insights about God and all of God’s Creation.