TO THE PINNACLE

About the Book

TO THE PINNACLE: A Memoir of a Life in Progress Biographical Information: Eve still resides in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Her first book, MY HUSBAND, MY CHILD, concerns her husband's descent into dementia and, of course, her reactions to that descent. Dedication: To all those people in Rock Shadows, Apache Junction, Arizona, who looked after Hal so that I had time to write these chapters of my life. Also, to the Overseas Schools Historical Society in Wichita, Kansas, and all teachers everywhere. With Special Thanks To: Reye Goedeken and Kim Dixon, who rescued this technological dinosaur by preparing the manuscript for the publisher. Possibilities for the back of the book: A few years ago, I heard something on public radio which I tried to write down. By the time I stopped the car, the exact wording was gone, but it went something like this: "There is an ecstacy at the epitome of life, which we can never achieve again and beyond which life can never reach again." Standing at the top of Rheingrafenstein, after a hard but triumphant climb, during what were probably my best teaching years, with helpful Hal by my side, I often felt that I had reached some sort of pinnacle. That pinnacle is not the top of Mt. Everest or the peak of a glorious career. It doesn't have to be monumental to be high for a Depression gal who started at the bottom. Everything from the bottom is up. Perhaps one doesn't have to be a famous film star or a former First Lady to have the temerity to write an account of one's life in a Memoir. For years I have been profoundly influ- enced by a line from John Ciardi's poem called "The Gift": "That Hell is the denial of the ordinary." Thanks for sharing.

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