The “Leora books”–world and national events reach into the American Heartland

Through one Iowa family, the “Leora books” tell stories about world and national events reaching into the American Heartland–westward expansion, two world wars, pandemics, mental health issues, the Great Depression, and dealing with great personal losses. The stories of courageous Leora Goff Wilson are hopeful as well. 

Leora’s Early Years

The oldest of ten children, Leora Goff gathered the tenacity, optimism and hope to endure dozens of family moves, great losses, an influenza pandemic, brothers drafted for the Great War.

When she married Clabe Wilson, they became forged into parents who would shepherd their own family of seven children through two more eras of world and local history–the Great Depression and WWII.

Leora’s Dexter Stories

Leora Wilson hoped that one day she and husband Clabe could have a home of their own where their youngsters could thrive and all earn high school diplomas, which she had not been allowed as a girl.

But in the undertow of the Great Depression, those dreams were jeopardized by the struggle just to survive. The Wilsons were faced with a heartless landlord, nine children with whooping cough, a needle jammed in Leora’s hand, and relentless unemployment. Their two oldest sons joined the Navy in order to have jobs and enough to eat.

As the Wilsons slowly slid into poverty, Leora tried to keep her dreams alive while making a haven for her flock in one run-down house after another.

Leora’s Letters

Five sons served. Only two came home. One son was already in the Navy before Pearl Harbor was attacked. The four others worked with their father as tenant farmers near Minburn, Iowa, until–one by one, all five sons were serving their country.

Along with her regular chores of cooking and cleaning, gardening and taking care of chickens, Leora wrote hundreds of letters,  dispensing news and keeping up the morale of the whole family, which included two adult daughters.

Leora’s Letters is the compelling account of a woman whose most tender hopes were disrupted by great losses. Three of her sons lost their lives during the war, yet Leora lived out four more decades with hope and resilience.

What Leora Never Knew

What Leora Never Knew: A Granddaughter’s Quest for Answers is my journey of research into what happened to the three Wilson brothers, tenant farmers who became pilots and who lost their lives during World War II. 

“We must never forget these three brothers.” – Marcus Brotherton, New York Times bestselling author

“This reviewer, a World War II aviation historian, was very impressed with the author’s determined and exhaustive research.” – Steve Blake, Co-editor of Lightning Strikes! publication of the P-38 National Association.

About the Author

I’m the oldest granddaughter of Leora Wilson. As a child, I helped Grandma, along with my mother and her sister, take Memorial Day bouquets to the graves of three young uncles, not knowing that only one of them is buried here in Iowa–until decades later, after losing my courageous little grandma and reading the family’s WWII letters for the first time.