All About Vernie Pickham and Family: and Selected Writings

In All About Vernie Pickham & Family and Selected Writings Mary Baker tells her story about growing up as Vernie an Irish Catholic in Chicago during the 1920s and 1930s. Its an honest simply told story of hardship disappointment love and laughter. Mary tells all often with a sense of humor and describes the old days in amazing detail. Her story is illustrated with more than 100 photographs.Mary had a difficult and unsettled childhood. Her mother and grandmother died when she was just six months old victims of the 1918 influenza. Her paternal grandmother took Vernie in as a foster mother but then she died on Marys sixth birthday. After that she was bounced around between relatives and moved from school to school. When she turned seventeen her father told her she was on her own.Despite her rough start Mary lived a full and adventurous life. She was an avid bicyclist taking long rides with the Chicago Cycle Club in the 1930s. She loved to sing and dance and she played the accordion.This story spans Marys entire life including growing old in The Home in northern California until her death at age 86 in 2004. Marys later writings explore her thoughts and feelings on aging which she approached with realism a sense of humor and a commitment to being an independent spirit. Her fun loving and pragmatic approach to life and aging serves as an inspiration to us all - to accept life as it is and to live it to the fullest as long as we can.This book includes Marys original life story written in 1997 at age 79 and twenty five selected essays. It was published in 2015 by her daughter and son so that others will enjoy meeting Mary through her writing.