Lawrence Albert Marsden was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in May of 1919. His mom was hurried there with pregnancy complications, and the two returned to live with his Great Aunt Vi in Luverne. My father’s dad had died in the flu epidemic of 1918 in November.
Among all of the aspirations Dad had and acted upon, writing was high on the list. He wrote about his experiences in the South Pacific during WWII in Attack Transport, that was published by the University of Minnesota Press but did not sell well. He later rewrote the book and added a second part regarding what happened to the USS Doyen, the ship he served on, after the war. That book is The Gemini Ship, and was self-published.
Some copies of each are attainable online.
My dad died in June of 2005, and my mother, in July of 2010. Rummaging through their belongings, we came across quite a bit of writing. My daughter has committed to scan each document for the family.
The following is the first of what should be a longer list to come of selections written by my dad. The final listing is something my grandmother, Carrie Ross Marsden, wrote about her father. Dad, I think, was so embarrassed over the story that he never shared it with us, his children.
what a beautiful discovery!
Back in 2003 when my older brother died, among his belongings we found the biggest notebook you have ever seen in your life!
Filled with poetry and songs and albums he paid to go have done professionally.
He kept that a secret from us,living in another state from me and my mom.
Neither of us knew he wrote poetry or songs,I wish I would of known because I wrote poetry as well.
one of those things when you look back on it and say….if only I had more time with them..
A selfish wish indeed. But I don’t mind being selfish.
I have always felt a strong connection to writing and poetry, But where my family used to give me crap about and say “don’t waste your time”
It took me until this year when I turned 22 to actually publish anything publicly or start writing seriously.
Thanks for sharing this with us!
Shane
Waste? Never. Poetry is what separates humans from animals. And among humans, separates humans from animals. We are designed and meant to be humans. Not animals. Do not stop writing and publishing.