Moments with Melinda: Interview with Mary Kathleen Mehuron

[music] >> Good morning and welcome to Moments with Melinda. My name is Melinda Moulton and today my guest is Mary Kathleen Maheran. Hi, how are you? >> Thank you so much for using my whole name. >> Well, Mary Kathleen Maheran is your name but but your friends call you Kathy. >> That's right. That's right. And it it seems to be a challenge for people because for example, when I was a teacher, I was a teacher of math and science for 40 years, um I discovered that the different school systems called me something else on my social security. So I had Mary, I had sometimes Mary Kathleen, which is what it needed to be, sometimes Kathy, sometimes Kathleen and it still happens. When I run into people, people I've known 40 years will call me a variation. So it's it's either Kathy or the whole thing, Mary Kathleen. >> Well, at least they don't call you late for dinner. >> Exactly. >> Right? So um I am going to call you Mary Kathleen because that's your formal name and um but when we But when we get together informally, which I really want to do soon with you for lunch or whatever, I'm going to start calling you Kathy. So let me tell my viewers about you. Mary Kathleen Maheran is an author, educator, musician and photographer as well as an advocate for the history of the Mad River Valley. She is best known for her captivating novels, most recently Down on the South Beach Drag from Simon and Schuster. Her family name sits atop one of Vermont's most iconic grocery stores, Mehuron's, in the Mad River Valley. I am so delighted to meet you. I've been going to your store for years. My daughter, who lives right next to me, that's their go-to all the time and um so thank you for taking this time to be with me and my viewers and your extraordinary writing career. Your whole life is is incredible and I have so much to ask you, but we're going to start at the beginning. Share with my viewers a bit about your early life. You were born in Chicago and you were raised in New Jersey in an Irish Catholic family. Talk a little bit about that, Mary Kathleen. >> Yeah, it was it was uh defined my life. It still does. If you ask me who I am, I joke that, you know, my last name is Mehuron. However, I'm an Irish Catholic Jersey girl. You know, I just married into it. I get all the perks. People pick up the phone cuz they hear the name. >> What's your maiden name? >> It's Best, b e s t. >> Best, Best. >> And I'm descended from the Gallaghers. So So I I was considered part of Irish royalty by the elders in our neighborhood. So my parents first when I was an infant, we moved to the Jersey Shore, which they refer to still as the Irish Riviera. And our neighborhoods were all second I'm a second generation American. Okay? So the grandparents either lived in the homes or were frequent visitors and they all had accents of every variety that you can imagine. Um and my ancestors literally came through Ellis Island. Um they had very strong opinions. They did not leave Ireland by choice. Okay, my my ancestors did not and our neighbors did not leave by choice. They hid um refugees from the British in the basements. They gave them a place to stay. We weren't allowed to speak to them though. This was really interesting. Because our job was to be more American than the Americans in one generation. That was what we were charged with. In fact, the whole thing they would say is with our good hair and our good teeth, we will be more American than the Americans in one generation. And it's funny when I read Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, that's the first thing he says, with our good hair and our good teeth. So, this was this was a mission. Like, okay, we don't want you to to know, for instance, like very few people I knew say they spoke German when they came or Russian. They didn't want the children to know that language. They wanted us to be Americans. And take it full advantage of the freedom um, and the opportunity that we had. So, that that was the beginning of my life for 10 years. >> That's amazing. So, where did you go on the Jersey Shore? I mean, cuz I went to uh Beach Haven and uh, you know, Wildwood and I I can't I'm from Allentown, so I hung out at the Jersey Shore all the time. >> Right. Where did Where did you Where did you hang out as I love to just There was a tract house development. They built the church first. St. Benedict's is still there. And the Catholic school. And then they started building their houses in the shadow of the church as they would say. Um, Hazlet was where our house was. But we spent a lot of time in Asbury Park. Which down on the South Beach drag is set in Asbury Park in 1972. >> Amazing. So, how did your early life shape the characters and themes you just mentioned it in your work? How did How did your early life um help you to uh bring those to life in your in your writing? >> Well, I I have four novels and I have three nonfiction books that I published in the last 9 years. Seven books in 9 years. I I I'm insane. It's a form of insanity, but um you know, I recognize I'm 71 years old. I'm not going to live forever and I have stories to tell. So, I've just been hard at it. The way it shaped me, two of my novels, the the first Fading Past, I've got them here. I hope you don't mind that I'm holding it. >> No, please, no. I'm going to talk about them. >> This is extremely autobiographical. It does follow my life. Um I created a novel out of it because you know, I don't know how [laughter] to say it. Oh gosh. I didn't turn the sound off. Let me do that. I'm sorry, Melinda. All right, sound >> Okay, don't you worry about it. You just sit yourself down here. >> So, this actually That's me in real life and that's my sister Sheila who's a year older. So, she's my Irish twin. If you're born in the same year, you're referred to as Irish twins. And um so, this character is the Irish neighborhood I come from. She She's and then she's swept up in the times, swept across the country. Um just just as I was. Um down on the South Beach drag, I wanted to set in 1972 and do you know why that's significant? You're You're a sure girl. 72 It was the year before Springsteen hit. >> Okay. >> Right? So, everybody's still in play. Nobody's famous. Nobody has any money. I mean, it was really even hard for the arts scene and alternative lifestyle scene for people to get into New New York City. It was expensive. >> Well, we're Well, we're going to get into your book. But, I'm I want to talk to you I want to get back into your childhood. So, you talk about purpose in your life. And you were abandoned by your parents. >> Yes. >> Share with us how you navigated this challenging time, Mary Kathleen. >> And I will. I want to thank you though for bringing this up because I try to talk about it in every interview and podcast I do. The reason being it happens every day in this great nation of ours. You know, people are like, "What?" Somebody said to me, a radio interviewer, was so shocked that I was abandoned. He's like, "But, you seem so normal." >> [laughter] >> Well, you know, it doesn't it doesn't make you necessarily a criminal or a turning to drugs, although that could have happened to me easily. It could have. I was completely unsupervised. Um yeah, my parents just moved away. They just left. And they had already forced me to come to Milwaukee. They moved from North Jersey to Milwaukee. They forced me to come out and then they left me behind. Um it led to wild times. I mean, I needed to make as much much money as I possibly could. >> How old were you? >> I was almost 17. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And because I Look, I never let go of the pursuit of an education because the elders taught us that that is the way to improve your life. So, you know, there were lots of times I had to choose between buying the books or eating. So, you know, I was pretty open to like how can I make money? I worked at a Woolworth's lunch counter, made nothing. They They gave me a sandwich every shift. Like that wasn't going to work. I had to pay rent, I had to pay tuition, all. >> And you had siblings. You had siblings. >> Yeah, I did. Um that I wound up at various times in those my early 20s and so forth caring for them, bringing them into my home. For the for the same reason. I It What saved me was my best friend's family. They were my moral compass. Now, they weren't always around, you know, when I was living out on the West Coast and so forth. But, um it's really important for people to know that kids and you think there's social services involved, but I can tell you, once you're older than 16, they they're overwhelmed. >> Well, also back also back then there weren't the so I mean, I lost my mother at 12, but I want to I really do want to meet with you because I think our lives are so interconnected with that with the growing up with childhood trauma that I want to meet with you because you I think you and I have Well, we have we have we're we're we're going to be soul sisters cuz we have so much in common as I as I've studied you for the last three or four days. I'm amazed. >> So, one colorful thing though I I do like to say. So, what I was leaving the science building after a class and his name was actually Sal. I know that sounds like prototypical um Italian-American. He was part of a syndicate that was the Chicago mob. >> Wow. >> And he at first, you know, I thought he was just a creep. You know, he's like, "Let me talk to you." But they they dealt heroin out of the kitchen. They had ticker tape gambling. Do you remember the those machines? The whole basement was gambling. And prostitution. But in order to keep this business going, which was uh set up like a speak easy, you had to know the password each month. You had to pay money. The bookcase would fly open, and there was the speak easy. In order for the police to stay off their back, primarily, and for them to sort of have a legit front, they needed pretty girls who could count, who could make change, right? We didn't have credit cards back then. And they needed them to be smart and and they needed to know we were not going to fall into heroin or prostitution. Cuz if anybody did, I know had a few people colleagues I worked with, they fired them immediately. So So anyway, it was it was very colorful. >> Fascinating. >> My My boss, his wife, I remember one month um other mob members were after him. And so his wife would go outside after the shift and brush the car with some kind of powder, maybe it was just baby powder, looking for fingerprints to see if they'd put a bomb in the car. >> Oh my god. >> Yeah, it was that immediate. It was in my face all the time. >> Incredible. Now, you did receive a degree in photography. And you devoted yourself to creative pursuits, blending your passion for storytelling, music, and the visual arts. Talk about this time, this creative time in your life when you sort of blossomed into this creative. >> Well, I like to think, you know, math and science was a gift for me. It's not like I dreamed of being a math and science teacher. But, I learned early on that the kids respond very well to creative projects. So, I tried all my curriculum is about Okay, we learn this fact, then we embed it in building something, creating something. And you know, I kind of got a reputation for that. So, I I always worked. I mean, from the day I graduated, I always worked. Uh and so, I had that little bit that corner cuz it's all standards, right? I mean, a math textbook, you know what you have to get through. But, there was a little corner where I could take all that and turn it into creativity. Um but, it wasn't till I was about to turn 60 and realizing that Tommy and I were going to retire. My husband is Tommy Euron. And um I had my time back. I And I, you know, you you know, you reach a point, you got some financial security. So, writing became a business to me. I sit down in that way, I mean, I sit down every day and write. >> Right. I know you do and and that's amazing. Now, I'm going to talk a little bit about your teaching career. You you got into a teaching career while you were raising your three sons and you taught thousands of math and science students and you were drawn to the STEM subjects. Um in what school did you teach in? >> I started in Ridgewood, New Jersey, which was the number three school system in the country at the time. It was so exciting and I was the I think I was the first woman in the math department. Um generally that area, whether it be engineering or teaching, was generally men. So, you know, that that was really interesting. I taught there. Then, when we came to Vermont, um before I was Mary Kathleen Mehuron, I was Mary Kathleen Hyde. And we came here and started the Hideaway. Um I taught >> Mary Kathleen Hyde? >> Yes. >> So was that your first marriage? >> Yes. Um >> were married to Mr. Hyde? >> Yes. >> The uh the legislator? >> We grew up together. >> Yeah, you grew up together. Well, and you say your Mary Kathleen Best that Best is your maiden name and your first marriage was was Mr. Hyde. And my Oh, by the way, I love the Hideaway. >> My Bruce who owns Me Hearn's now >> Yes. >> Hyde Jr. And my son, the director, is Jonathan Hyde. >> Wow. >> Um Yeah, and but then I you know I really realized that teaching was something that was important to me. So I taught at Harwood at various times. I always tutored and I also taught dance a lot. Um but then I was at U32 for many years. Left there. Um I think I Did I say already? I'm celebrating 25 years of surviving a catastrophic >> Yeah, we're going to get into that. We are actually going to talk to us about that. >> So I was out a couple years in treatment. And then I got a call from um Jen Robillard up at GMS. And she was so tactful. She didn't say, "Oh, I heard you were sick and you're better now." She she said, "I heard you're available." And I started teaching up there. We met It was a beautiful August day. We just sat on the steps and you We're we're good friends. We hit it off. >> Aw. So So talk to me real quickly. I think I have a question in here. We might as well talk about it right now. About you did What was your You had an illness that really set you back for quite a while. >> It was Yeah. >> Talk to us about that. When did you How old were you? >> I was uh turning 45 when I was diagnosed with two different breast cancers. Right? One [clears throat] in each breast. And and it was it was scary. I mean I I went to Boston. My family was insistent I go to a world-class cancer center and um I call it the big surgery. Was the one where they asked me to make out a will, to have my family there. You know, it it it it was taken very seriously. And of course, I was like my god, I had a 10-year-old, Melinda. >> Yeah, it was 30 years ago and the science really wasn't yet there for breast cancer. >> And and not here. You couldn't um the way that the procedure that they used to see if it's spread really wasn't available for the kind of surgery I had to have yet. So, that was another thing about going to Boston. >> Incredible. >> But that, you know, Tommy and I had to tell Thomas, our That's my baby. I have three boys and Thomas Meheron the third. Um if I may brag, Dr. Thomas Allen Meheron the third. >> [laughter] >> And he always says, "Mom, do you have to tell everybody?" Yes, I do. >> Well, I'm going to talk about your son right now cuz I want you to talk to us about the advice, and I don't know which son it was, but the advice that your son gave you after you told him that you wished you had the same opportunities as he had. Talk to us about that moment. And what did that What did that inspire in you? >> It was when we were we knew Look, we knew Thomas was going to go into some serious form of um science. It It was obvious early on. So, um by the time we got He had He had gone junior year the summer. He'd gone to Cornell for uh to take classes in neuroscience and so forth. Right now, he's a neuroradiologist. That's where he landed. Um but I remember I I was surprised as we visited college how emotional I got. And I said, "Oh my god. Oh, you're going to make me cry now? What would I have been if I had an opportunity like this?" And he said, "Mom, it's not too late. What Why are you acting like your life is over?" >> [laughter] >> And turned on a dime. He He was so right about that. I I suppose, you know, we all see it Melinda, you must see ageism. You may experience it. But that doesn't mean we have to lay down and die. I mean, we >> No. >> can stand. >> I am living my greatest life in my 70s. Now, this was when this moment was when you stepped out of your comfort zone and decided you would have a grand finale and you started writing. So, talk to us a little bit about that moment when you thought This is 9 years ago or something. I mean, when you started writing. About that moment when you when you finally sat down and devoted yourself to your writing. >> It was something of a process. Um I started writing Fading Past I've got it over here. to leave to my children. Cuz they did not promise me 5 years. You know, this this was not a good prognosis. It It A decade later, I would go to the Mayo Clinic for a month and worked with them and they said they told me then, "You're going to live to be an old woman." And that is the first time it ever occurred to me. I was always outrunning death. Um and I had like repeated surgeries and blah I don't even know how many. I've kind of blocked it out, but I would guess 21 or 22 surgeries. Um Now I've lost track of where I am. >> Well, it's okay. Let me ask you this next question then cuz believe me, I have a lot of questions for you. Who do you think had the greatest impact on your desire to become a novelist? >> Well, that's an easy one. Again, I'll get very emotional. >> Please do. Please do. >> Our most prominent author here in the valley is the writer James M. Tabor. And it was I was a closet artist. I mean, I was I was writing, but I I was not sharing it with anybody. And I had finished the book. Um My Jonathan, who who is an artist and a director, was dear, dear friends with Jim's son, Jack. And Jack has passed sadly. Um But it he Jim comes up to me in front of the cheese, you know, the great cheeses at Mirabelles. We're standing there together and he said, "John tells me you're you're writing a book." And I just like flushed red. I was so embarrassed. Oh my god. I hadn't shown it to anybody. And he said, "Can I read it?" And then he took me out for a cup of coffee and he said, "I'm not going to say it's going to be easy, Kathy, but you have something. And if you work hard enough, it's going to become something." And and he, um Howard Frank Mosher, Reeve Lindbergh, uh some very important writers got on board and endorsed the book and remained friend remained friends until Howard Course passed away sadly but um that's how it all began. >> Incredible. So what brought you to Vermont 40 years ago? >> The the big boy's dad, that's how I refer to him. I don't call him >> So so Bruce Hyde >> Bruce Hyde senior >> Was he in in New Jersey? I mean you were living in New Jersey. >> We had we had done some really successful flipping. Um we didn't call it flipping back in the day. You just you know, you you bought a fixer-upper. Over time we learned how to lay linoleum and everything. >> Was he from New Jersey, too? >> Oh yeah. >> So you two met in New Jersey and then then you decided to move to Vermont. What was what >> My best friend Carol has a brother Danny. And Danny is Bruce senior's age. >> Okay. >> So we both were hanging around their house. It was a wonderful safe place to be at their house. Um yeah. No, Bruce just he really he had a dream. >> What brought him to Vermont what what all of a sudden? >> He he liked to ski. I don't think he was great at it yet. He'd done it a few times. He had a dream of buying his own business. I don't know if it was the Bob Newhart Show that influenced him but he wanted to buy an inn. We came Oh, this is a great story. So the boys were in daycare. People's Express. I think the tickets were 39 >> $39. Yeah, like $39. Yeah. >> All right, but the boys had to be picked up by 5:30. So we fly to Vermont. Um had a realtor who I can't remember who it was take us around the Waitsfield Inn was for sale and the Snuggery was for sale. >> Snuggery. >> And the Snuggery was about to be condemned. It It had been Do you remember there was a a rain gutter in the dining room cuz they didn't want to fix the roof. And it all just spilled >> who owned it, we we we became friends with them. I did get a divorce, but anyway, keep going. Keep going. >> So, I didn't want to do this. I had the best job I've ever had in my life in Ridgewood, my family, my friends I grew up with. I mean, Bruce senior will tell you himself that he dragged me kicking and screaming up here. And you notice the marriage did not survive it. So, um But, now we had the boys here. Ridgewood had saved my job for 2 years hoping I would come back. Well, yeah, then then they don't have a dad. You know? I mean, so we worked it out. We were on the same bus route and then I fell in love with Tommy and we had our child and created a blended family. So, it all worked out and I'm happy now. I'm happy that my boys grew up here. >> Well, I So, I you are a columnist for the Valley Reporter and you're the author of three non-fiction books that you use to raise money for your nonprofit, Take Me Back Inc. I want you to talk just a little bit about this nonprofit and about its mission and then that my viewers can go online take it back take take me back. dot inc go to the website >> Or just Google me. I'll come up. >> Google. Yeah, and I think you and you and you take donations online. Mary Kathleen Meagher and I've got your website as well. So, talk to us a little bit about this nonprofit you started. >> Yeah, I started during the pandemic. Um my closest friends and I would bring our lawn chairs and it was snowing at that point and I would always bring the tape measure. We'd be 6 ft away from each other, often finding spots where maybe we're sitting around a campfire and we brought our cocktails in little thermoses and we talked and what we talked about a lot was the past. I've been here 40 years, but many of my friends are like 10 years older than me. So they're talking about the valley in the early 70s and just all these stories. So I thought, all right. My books are not selling because uh you couldn't even print, right? [laughter] The publishers couldn't print. It was a debacle. Something sold like how to make bread or children's books, but not not novels. So I said, I'm not selling my two novels yet. Um So I wrote to Lisa Loomis, who is a friend, and I said, how about this for an idea? What if we get people to tell their stories, you know, not of colonial times, which I think we tend to focus on that as we study history, but more the folks the living history. Folks who are still here. Let's let them tell their stories. And I thought, oh, this would be easy. I wrote the first one about myself. I said, I'll go first. And you know, I'm really honest from the from the get-go. I'm I'm a writer, but I am not a historian. Um I'm not good at history. It's been a a lot of work to to make it work. But this book, take me back, um it was, you know, I was the creator. Jim Tabor was my mentor. Uh my son Jonathan was the art director and he personally created the specs for the designer we would hire and that's how we found Marin Horikawa. It's a very different kind of book. Um it's images, my journal entries tie all these stories together of locals. Um and some people write their own pieces and some need me to get the words down on paper. >> And there's three volumes, I understand. There's three volumes. >> I'll show them. >> Yeah. >> This what I figured cuz right away I could launch the Belonger which has a whole 'nother story to it. Once the pandemic passed, I was able to publish the Belonger. If I If I presented it the first day as the first Take Me Back book. And this is uh the Kintses Bobby and Colleen Kints. This is their gorgeous photograph. Um I knew that if I did it the same day, we'd get a lot of publicity. And we did. And this book sold out in 3 weeks. So if you have one with this cover with the summer cover, please remember the whole idea was that it be a keepsake edition. That it be beautiful paper, good binding, that it was going to hold up. But once the print run was gone, it was gone. That's my promise to everybody. So it If you do If you look it up on eBay, you'll you'll be surprised at how much they sell for now. All right. So down at Addison West, which used to be the store, um Anna said, "You know what? You have to do another book anyway. Make it hard cover this time." And it came in It's a There's a whole story I won't go into, but they lost the shipment. Came in right before Christmas. And that this was either placed at one of our now partner venues cuz people volunteered to carry it uh in 6 days. And so that one is now a keepsake edition as well. And here's the third one. It's has the most artwork, the most stories, um it is its intention because the businesses paid for the printing and design. All the artists, God love them, donated their work. >> Mhm. >> So, money goes for showcasing the history of the Mad River Valley. >> That's outstanding. What a great idea. Now, to my viewers, I want you to know that Mary Kathleen Meheron, her family came to the United States in 1690 becoming the first pilgrim family to have a baby born in the new country, and you are included on the Mayflower roll. >> The The Meherons are. >> are. The Meherons. >> Again, I married >> So, so talk to us about your mar- the market. You married Tommy Meheron. >> Yes. >> And um how old were you when you two got married? >> Oh gosh, cuz I I'm really bad at looking back that way. Well, we were He was 35. >> Okay. >> Okay, and so I'm like 6 months >> Okay, so you guys were 35, so you were young. Um and you had more children with Tommy, right? >> Had our Thomas. >> Okay, you had your Thomas. >> Yes. >> Um so uh your family owns and operates this um this incredible iconic and beloved family-owned market uh featuring some of the state's finest local produce. Now, Meheron's Market just celebrated its 85th anniversary. Tell us a little bit about the history before your involvement. >> Yeah, well, this book >> That book goes into it, right? Your book. Yeah. >> There was a whole >> Take me back. And where can we get this book? Is it at Meheron's or is it on Can we get it in local bookstores? Phoenix, do they have it? Phoenix books? >> Yes, Tempest Tempest books has it. Um Adams and West has been our champion throughout all of it. >> Perfect. >> Um you And again, you can just Google me. My website will come up and just write to me. I I actually hand deliver them to people. >> My god. Well, I want you to give me one when I meet you for lunch. >> Absolutely. >> book. I'm going to move into your new book now, Down on the South Beach Drag. And it is being hailed as your tour de force. Simon & Schuster has just signed you as one of their authors. You go, girl. And this must be deeply satisfying. Talk to us about your newest novel. >> Well, it's 1972. And the only place that I knew that I could reach, that I could access, right? Coming from my Irish Catholic neighborhood, we were now in North Jersey because my dad got a promotion and he was commuting into the city, the city being New York City. Um and I've lost my thought again. >> Well, we're talking about your book and your father just, you know, moved out you had to move to northern So, the only It was 1972. >> The only place that had alternative lifestyles that was driveable for me was Asbury Park, New Jersey. And I knew it well. Um the music scene was always so. I mean, I think that folks that aren't from New Jersey don't realize that. Um I talk about riding the circuit. I created Maeve O'Connor, um my character, because O'Connor is the most royal of the Irish names. And I I love the name Maeve. So, there she was. She's she's tall, she's gangly. All her friends are going crazy over boys and she just doesn't get it. Like it's not her her She wants to be a photographer. She wants to be an artist, which simply wasn't done in my culture. That's the difference between Vermont and New Jersey, I'll tell you that, or at least back then. Um, so she creates this situation where she can go down there with a few friends. And this happens a lot. I I bet even where you grew up in Pennsylvania, a lot of kids go to the shore for the summer and work. >> We all do. Ocean City. I mean, we all Wildwood. Uh, my parent my family had a in in um They had a house on the in in the New New Jersey shore in Bayhead. We had a family home there. So, yeah, the Jersey shore was where we went. >> So, her parents, like many parents at the time told her she basically she could be a teacher or a secretary. Um, go to a two two-year kind of community college, and that's that's it. They weren't going to support her being an artist. And her parish priest uh, who who is also an artist and also on the LGBTQIA spectrum he recognizes her talent, and he brings her this flyer for a contest. It's a photography contest. And the winner will get a full scholarship to an art school in Manhattan. So, this I mean, to live in Manhattan, maybe I'll find myself, Mabe thinks. Maybe I'll figure out who I am cuz I know I'm not like them. And there's so much pressure on her. She's the oldest. She has five younger brothers. So, all her mother wants is her her to be a devout Catholic woman and get married and have babies. She doesn't want her to have a career. And it's agony for her. So, you you follow her and the way she she finds >> I love it. I love it. So, your book is a it's out now. It's It's rave reviews, and it's it's available in all local bookstores. And I encourage all of my readers to pick up Down on the South Beach Drag by Mary Kathleen Maheron. >> I think of it like this, you know, today in our news today at home, um the idea of resistance is being made quite controversial by a few people, very few people. But all right, so I'm speaking directly to you. This is my resistance to what is happening in our country. >> Good for you. So, you talk about your traumatic childhood helping you become adaptable. Talk about this for my viewers because many of us, including myself, >> [snorts] >> had very traumatic childhoods and are still coping with them in our adult lives. So, talk about how you it helped you become adaptable. >> Well, for example, I mean stuck. I'm stuck. I have no money. I can't leave Milwaukee. I have no friends. I've no place to stay. I mean, I'm going to have to make my way. And having to do that, sometimes failing, but inch by inch, it took me a 6 years to get my bachelor's degree. Right? Cuz I worked. I worked at night. Um but it's it's a skill that stuck with me. You know, you land someplace. I'm a big believer in serendipity. And as an Irish Catholic, I would I I would call it God's will. I mean, we're here. I look for the signs. How do we move ahead? And um and I was a really hard worker. I mean, that's just a given. You you're not going to survive if you're not say yes to everything, every job, everything. >> And women are known to kick down the door. I don't wait for it to open, I just kick it down. >> That's right. >> So, now you have only been an author for the past 10 years. And your children are grown and you you have survived a grave illness. And you've been focusing on your own mortality over the years. Um talk to us a little a little bit about that. About >> Okay, can I tell you about the new book? >> Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. >> So, I have a new memoir that is with a literary agent and being shopped and we're getting a lot of buzz. We haven't been acquired yet. But I used the skills I developed during the Take Me Back, which was to pick different writing platforms and images and marry them in a way that is unexpected. I think that's fair. Do you, Melinda? >> Absolutely. >> So, I I I my son John, who's the who's the uh filmmaker, he said, "Mom, why reinvent the wheel? Why not just keep the design team in place and go ahead and write your new book." So, instead of journal entries like the Take Me Back, text messaging becomes the ribbon. I said I was going to start my my memoir on my 70th birthday and complete it on my 71st birthday and write about real stories in real time that just come through. Now, here's God's will or serendipity, if you will. I get a phone call from somebody I hadn't spoken to in 55 years. >> Oof. >> And so significant. When I was 14, we started a theater company. >> Mhm. >> That we thought it would last the summer. It lasted, I think, 20 years. We just passed it to the younger children. Um and the people in that original uh founding, we got really close and we stayed in touch except for this one fellow. His name is John Student. And he we we we we reconnected as artists. In his retirement, he became a professional photographer. And he helped actually helped um edit the new Take Me Back book. And we we just realized that that creative bond that we had at 14 was exactly the same. It was exactly as it had been. So, he starts you know, I'm sending you images that might go with that story. Um and then he's editing for me and he's writing. And the next thing you know, we are now co-authors. The book is called Tales from Two Lifetimes. And um I think it's it's going to be great. >> I love it. >> I can't wait to tour with it. >> Fantastic. >> For It's for people over 50, really. That's our market cuz we're telling stories from the past, but also what it's like to be aging. >> Absolutely. That's so fascinating. I'll have to interview you again about that book. >> I would love it. >> So, to my viewers, you can find more information about Mary Kathleen Meagher on on her website, which is kathleenmeagheron.com. >> marykathleenmeagheron.com >> Mary? >> Mary. >> Mary. Oh, so your first name is in the in your website. Mary. >> Mary Kathleen >> I am correcting myself. All right. So, it's marykathleenmeagheron.com. So, write that down and visit her website and she is the author of Fading Past, The Opposite of Never, The Belonger, and her most recent novel, Down on the South Beach Drag. And you can find her books at all local bookstores and at Meaghern's Market in Waitsfield. If you've never been there, you should go. Now, you have written amazing history and this is your take back. And there and we talked about the three editions, supporting your nonprofit. So, I want you now, cuz we're coming to the end of the show here. >> Can I talk about the EVENT NEXT SUMMER? >> YES, talk about the event next summer. I want to be invited. >> Up until now, I'm president of Take Me Back Inc. And up until now, I have funded other people's work. I do it very quietly. Um but for instance, there was a play, Keep Up Good Courage, that Alice Evans and Shimon Traver's wrote. Um and uh we were one of the main sponsors for that. We do the interview programs. I I don't know, do you remember Kevin Irish? Kevin Irish uh of the the very historic Irish family. All four of his grandparents go back hundreds of years here in the valley. He wrote a book for his family. And he sent it to me, thanking me for writing articles in the paper. And I said, "Kev, can we publish it?" So, so I paid or Take Me Back Inc. paid for the editor and the publisher. And in his generosity, any profit from that book goes back into our bank account. So, it it's stuff like that. We've done a >> Outstanding. So, you're you're a patron of of of good works. >> But now, what's changing we're >> So, tell me about your event next summer. >> Yeah, because I'm that's what I'm raising money for right now. I am not that excited about the 4th of July, cuz Vermont was not one of the United Colonies. They wouldn't let us in. So, on July 8th, 2027, we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the Republic of Vermont. Now, I I really want to use whatever talents I have and and others have to really tell the story about how fascinating this is. >> Well, my husband and I are doing a PBS documentary called Ethan Allen, the Man and the Myth. And it's going to be released on November 7th and that has a lot of this history in it of why we were a republic and how we were. So that So you're having an event a few days after the Warren parade 4th of July. >> Yes. And at Big Picture >> Okay. >> July 8th, put it on your calendar. Now we have totally firmed up the program, but you know, I have musicians. I I'm in touch with speakers. Um there are creative projects in the works and um we want you there. >> Well, we're going to be showing our film at the Big Picture and I do want to be there and Rick will be very Well, November 7th is when we're we're premiering it in in um up at Main Street Landing on November 7th and I'm talking to the Big Picture now about bringing it down the next week, but we'll see. I got to get it booked in. Uh and then we're going to be taking it all over the country, but um certainly at your event, Rick Moulton, who's been read 28 books on Ethan Allen and the history of Vermont, um with Kevin Graffagnino and the Vermont Historical Society, they're our fiscal sponsor for the film. And uh you know, I'd love to talk to you more about your event because I think I could help you with that. >> I love that. >> Okay. Well, we're we're going to we you and I are going to do some mind melding. So now we're coming in. I just want to share you to share with my viewers your wisdom about the world that we live in and how we can best navigate the trials and tribulations of climate change, the challenges to our democracy, war, economic inequality, to name just a few that our species are now now in the midst of of the challenges that we're all feeling. What are what are your words of wisdom, Mary Kathleen Meagher On, to my viewers? How to navigate this time? >> I think it it's easy to become overwhelmed. Right. Um I think when for instance, my experience right before the pandemic hit Vermont, I went to Washington to march with Jane Fonda for climate change. I brought groups of Vermonters. And what I discovered in that experience is you know, you can just pick one thing. And it you know, it gets harder to travel as you get older. Then of course, the pandemic hit and nobody was traveling, but but my point is just pick something you're passionate about. Don't worry about you know, like I'm upset about the Iran war, but like everybody else, but that's not a place I don't think I can make a difference. I would continue to focus on climate change. >> Here, here. Thank you so much for that. 350.org, such a great group. Well, I am so delighted to meet you, Mary Kathleen Meagher On. And I'm excited for my viewers to learn more about your remarkable life and to introduce them to your novels and your non-fiction work. And I this is I this I wrote this for you. You are a remarkable woman who provides so much inspiration and wisdom. And I thank you for that. And I'm delighted to get you know to know you better today. And I hope that we can stay in touch in the future. I know that we will. I think we're conjoined in some way. And I think we have things to share that would bring great comfort and hope for both of us. So, I'm going to be reaching out to you in the next few days to set up a time that I can journey over to your part of the woods and um we can sit down um maybe up at Mad River for lunch or whatever and um and get to know each other better because I'd like to become your friend. I think you're I just feel a real connection with you including the including the New Jersey Shore. >> Especially the New >> Especially the New Jersey Shore. And I used to hang out in Philadelphia and go to Jerry Blavat's dance scenes and I went I ended up at the Barbizon Hotel for women where I went to school. So we have a lot to talk about. >> We do. >> Thank you for having me. >> Thank you. You're wonderful. And to my viewers I want to thank you all for joining us and I hope you get out and you enjoy this beautiful weather and um and I will see you soon. I will see you soon. Be well. Have faith and smile. Bye.