Lowell author Gladys Fletcher pens memoir My Garden of Stones

How would you respond if told by your parents you could not marry the love of your life… That special someone you had known since the age of seven?

 

 

Fletcher's book is an autobiography, a memoir, and a biography of her husband Al to whom she was a caregiver for 59 years. This is a journey of two determined people through their garden of stones overcoming hurdles that could have destroyed a marriage, but God was good, always, even performing miracles.

 

From eloping to living happily ever after with Al, the forbidden love of her life, Fletcher captures significant moments with a dose of nostalgia and a bit of humor.

At the age of 85, Gladys Fletcher published her first book after taking a few memoir writing classes at Calvin University in Grand Rapids.

"At 80, I decided to do something," she said. "At first I just wanted to leave a legacy for my children, but the instructor encouraged me to write a book."

"You've got more to share than just with your family," the instructor said.

Fletcher shut the door and meditated while sitting in front of the computer for hours. In two years, she had a book.

"I had to write it chronologically," she said. "I was honest. It's all true."

Listen in to Fletcher's great feats together with Al who was handicapped with rheumatoid arthritis and graduated from Lowell High School at Mary Free Bed in 1941.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent and The Lowell Ledger