Book published as gift to grandmother

CHILLICOTHE —  Nearly four years ago, twin brothers David and Johnathon Bennett wanted to give their grandmother a special gift for the holidays, and gave her something she never expected.

The brothers had spent a year compiling stories that their grandmother, Marjorie Beavers had written and decided to surprise her with a published version of her work. They set to work, and were able to present her with the created book, Cedar Grove and Other Memories: The Collected Works of Marjorie Beavers, in 2011.

"I've wanted to publish books for a while, and since I was kind of learning how, I thought I would give it to her as a gift," David Bennett said.

The title of the book, Cedar Grove, come from the home and property where she lived in Kingston. Her family moved there when she was four years old. Beavers said though the town is not the same as it used to be, it was a good place to grow up, and her hometown has stayed dear to her heart. So dear, she had decided to start writing down her memories, stories, and poems describing her life in the small town. Eventually, she also started to document stories she would tell her grandchildren.

"I just started writing, I didn't know they would put it in a book," Beavers, the 91-year-old author, said.

Some of the stories in the book that is closest to Bennett and Beavers hearts, are the stories based on Amelia the Bear. Amelia was a stuffed bear Beavers made for her grandchildren, and when they would ask for a story, she often made up adventures for Amelia to go on with her best friends, David and Johnathon.

Beavers had submitted some of the stories to various publishers over the years, but saw little results. Now, Bennett said, the best part of the book is finally seeing his grandmother's work in print.

"I think they deserve to be published," Bennett said. "It's just really exciting, we heard them a lot growing up."

Many of the notes, stories, and poems that appear in the book are from Beaver's old composition books. Typing up her hand-written notes for Bennett to compile is what she said took a majority of the time.

"I have always enjoyed writing for years and years. I suppose I just had the time to do it," Beavers said. "It's something for me to do in the afternoons when the hours drag on."

Beavers said she plans to continue to document her memories and stories, hopefully to compile into a second book, that Bennett also plans to publish, promising it will be even better than the first.

"I've read the first one so many times I think it's boring, I think the newer one I'm writing will be more interesting," Beavers said.

Bennett said people in Kingston want to read it, and they hope to leave the book out at Traditions for those who live there with Beavers to enjoy as well.

Cedar Grove and Other Memories: The Collected Works of Marjorie Beavers is available in paperback and on Amazon Kindle.