When Pat Drummond-Colley wrote a poem in honor of her late grandfather 40 years ago, her daughter, Denise, loved the message years later even though she had never met the man who inspired it.
The mother-daughter team decided to take the poem a step further by combining it with the latter’s artwork to publish a short book titled “Grampa Spence of Bolivar Run” which is expected to be sold in local shops soon. The book, comprising Drummond-Colley’s poem and her daughter’s artwork, is the second book to be published by the two in less than 10 years.
Their first book, the beautifully illustrated “My Grama’s Garden,” was published in 2011 by Amazon and was the 2012 winner of the Benjamin Franklin award for best children’s picture book.
Drummond-Colley said their current book was her daughter’s idea after she had read the poem written in honor of her great-grandfather in the 1970s.
“She has always loved the poem I wrote about her great-grandfather,” Drummond-Colley said of her daughter. “She was a baby when he died and even though she doesn’t remember him, she knows everybody loved him so much. When I wrote the poem over 40 years ago, the family all loved it and put it on their walls.”
Drummond-Colley said her late husband drew a picture of Grampa Spence which was printed in the Frameworks book published by the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
“So (the drawing) has always been hanging around, “ Drummond-Colley said of the artwork of her grandfather.
She said Drummond decided to illustrate their second book as her great-grandfather was related to a number of the Cornelius and Drummond families in the area.
“It’s about the history of Bolivar Run and (Grampa Spence), and his father and mother, too, “ Drummond-Colley remarked. “I wrote the poem about memories (Grampa Spence) would talk about.”
She noted they used all of the photographs they could find of Grampa Spence and his wife and family members for the illustrations created by Drummond.
They added Bolivar Run to the title as they believe people who live or had lived in that area of Bradford might be interested in “knowing what was talked about and what was going on in the early days” of that community.
Drummond, an accomplished artist in the area, said they worked with Copy Connection in Bradford to print the pages and the covers were printed at the Laughing Owl Press in Kane.
“It’s something like the other book, and it’s kind of cool,” Drummond said of the new book. “It seems like both of these book projects started out to be really personal projects, but then they kind of evolved into something that we think will be appealing to other people.”
Their first book, which used Drummond-Colley’s story of a little girl who walked through her grandmother’s garden, had wide-reaching appeal for all who love gardens and wildlife.
Their second book also touches on the aspect of human appeal, as well.
“This could be anyone’s grandfather or great-grandfather,” Drummond explained. “It’s just a nostalgic poem that she wrote. I think a lot of people who grew up in that era or in the country would appreciate it.”
A book signing session at the Westline Inn is expected to be held in August. In addition, the book will be sold at Westline Inn and Mainstreet Mercantile in Bradford in the near future.
