 |
| (Observer photo) |
East Dubuque man writes memoir
“Lucky 13: Rural Family of Faith” is a memoir of life on the farm in the far northwest corner of the Rockford Diocese.Author Bert Tranel, the youngest of the 13 children, reflects on his life and the importance of faith to his family, from which came two priests for the Rockford Diocese and two sisters for the Sinsinawa Dominicans.
Tranel’s informal memoir has the tone of casual conversations in the family. In each section, he writes of a family member or a time in his own life, dropping in extraneious facts to help place each memory in historical perspective.
His father died shortly after the author was born, making young Bert the only family member who didn’t know him. “From then on, with the help of God’s grace and mom’s faith, we pulled through the rocky roads ahead,” he wrote.
Available on Amazon:
“Lucky 13: Rural Family of Faith” by Bert Tranel. (River Lights Publishing, paperback) 167 pp., $17.99
Enter by Oct. 17, 2016, to win both books from The Observer Book Club.
