The Tecumseh Herald
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Author signs "Aaron's Crossing"
by Deb Wuethrich
deb@tecumsehherald.com
A former Adrian resident and author will be at Walden Books on Saturday from 3:30-5 p.m. while promoting her book, “Aaron’s Crossing — A True Ghost Story.” Linda Alice Dewey says she loves being back in the Adrian and Tecumseh area, a place she calls “probably the most welcoming place I have lived.”
The Arizona resident who summers at Glen Arbor was a member of the Christian Science Church while living in Adrian and also was active in Croswell and Siena Heights performances. The former music and remedial reading teacher said some may remember her as Linda Bauerle, and she hopes to see many of them while she is signing copies of her book. The book also was turned into a play and performed at Musical Readers Theater at Horizon Books in Traverse City. She also will be on JoAnn Steele’s radio programs on Saturday discussing the story that she said is based on an actual encounter with a ghost that followed her home from a small cemetery in Ohio.
“I felt sorry for this person lost in the cemetery in the middle of the woods, so I called out to him,” she said. She later thought that was “stupid,” but her empathy won out over time. While staying at the family’s cottage in Glen Arbor, the former jingle writer said Aaron’s story began to take shape as a book that was dictated to her on her computer.
“Once I heard his voice, I knew it was a book,” said Dewey. She said she had learned to “listen” and had done some spiritual writing while in Arizona. The premise is that some who die are not yet ready to cross over, that they yet need experiences to prepare them for the journey. “He tells the story from his point of view, including his encounter with me, the story of his life, the mistakes that he had made and what he went through in order to get to the point that he was ready to cross,” she said.
If you can get past the fact that it was purportedly written by a ghost, the book contains messages for living. It is a well-written story of an Irish immigrant boy whose father whisks him away from Ireland at age 4, onto a boat and into America. The boy, who finds his father cold and harsh, encounters hope in the form of some kind people — relatives who show compassion in this new world, and a couple of women who act as surrogate mothers to the love-starved youth. A Mrs. Harris, who is Jewish but has converted to Catholi-cism and finds comfort in the Church but does not truly let go of her own faith, has one of the best lines in the book that resonates with truth when she tells the boy, “You see, people usually pray about problems when life is already going wrong. But when I pray, I get to my own discord and ask for clarity before it has a chance to develop. If something troubles me, I pray. If I am not sure how to think about something, I pray over it. Soon, a wiser, larger way of looking at the situation presents itself.”
