Several of these selfies with the Dallas County Freedom Rock® at Minburn have been such nice surprises!
I’m with Emina Hastings, the Nineteen14 Depot restaurant in the background. Dedication day of the Dallas County Freedom Rock®, October 19, 2019. Emina took photos for me that day and also did my author photos for the Leora books. (Emina came to Iowa as a teenager with her family, refugees of the Bosnian War.)
The Young Patriots Club sang at the dedication. You can see the young Wilson pilots among them.
I have never met the first relative who visited the Freedom Rock®, Clay Wilson from California, great great grandson of Delbert Wilson, who is the second brother from left on the Rock.
This popped up one day on Instagram, named only c6_crazy. When I told him how I was related to the brothers, he returned with his recumbent bike for a selfie. The Raccoon River Valley Bike Trail runs through Minburn.
Steve Radakovich is a classmate from Earlham. He sent this one after reading Leora’s Letters.
Rod Jensen read Leora’s Letters while wintering in Florida. After returning to northern Iowa, he read the Depression Era book and took a trip down to see the Wilson brothers on Minburn’s Freedom Rock® .
One of my favorite Freedom Rock® selfies is of Val Plagge and her children (one of them took the photo). Val is a very busy farmer, wife, mom, volunteer and blogger (Corn, Beans, Pigs, and Kids), but she took the time to read Leora’s Letters while in a tractor cab in the field, waiting on the combine!
Alan Lovelady and the Des Moines Cycle Club (almost two dozen riders) visited the Dallas County Freedom Rock® last weekend, riding into a strong headwind on their way back. “I’ve read and enjoyed three of your books, Joy. I even told the story to my biking companions today!”
If you visit the Dallas County Freedom Rock® at Minburn, I’d love it if you’d post a selfie with the Wilson brothers!
These selfies are wonderful! What a thrill it must have been to receive them.
It always is!
If I ever get to visit, I will definitely take a selfie with the freedom rock! It’s very special that people have shared theirs with you.
Saturday’s was a nice surprise, arriving while our son was here from St. Paul!
Responses with selfies in front of the Dallas County Freedom Rock were impressive. Iowans are a thoughtful bunch of history lovers!
The founder and artist of original Freedom Rock, Ray “Bubba” Sorensen, has designed and painted a Freedom Rock in all of 99 Iowa counties! Several people have been to all 99, some of which are in tiny communities, like Minburn. One of Sorensen’s goals was to promote tourism. He sure has!
What a fun way to show appreciation for the brothers and for your books!
I think a lot of it is how readers connect to Leora herself, which has been such a blessing.