Autobiographies

As we live in a changing and volatile world, these stories highlight everyday situations. Some stories are cheerful and humorous while others tug at your heartstrings. All of the stories are true and are intended to help us as we interact with others.

This set of vignettes is, in fact, a dot-to-dot autobiography. It’s warm, affectionate, diplomatic, and laced with kindness. In a phrase, a perfect reflection of the man his granddaughters know. And his friends and associates over the years. Now, so can everyone else. — Dr. Jerry Elijah Brown, former head of Auburn University journalism and retired dean and professor emeritus of the University of Montana School of Journalism.

Moments in Time is Jack D. Smith’s second book, written at the request of his two granddaughters, Maggie and Claire Smith. His first book, My Father the Ghost, was published in 2009.

Moments in Time describes the author’s most hated boyhood farm chore, by order of his dad, milking a stubborn old cow that keeps hitting him upside the head with her cocklebur-matted tail. He delights in the minty scent of plants growing along the shady banks of a fresh water creek – the little stuff that makes for the author’s happy young life in his beloved Mount Hope community.

But he also captures the dark valleys of his life, one of them waiting at East Alabama Medical Center on a morning when a doctor would arrive to turn off the life support machines for his wife. As a news reporter, the author invites you to join him in covering a midnight execution in Alabama’s electric chair.

These and dozens of other moments in time are written in a “sitting on the front porch talking” informality that Grandmother Smith and Aunt Eunice Rucker would have appreciated as they dipped Bruton snuff on the front porch of the author’s log house. You will meet some of the people who had an impact on the author’s life. Other than family, that lists includes a serial bank robber, a WW II prisoner of war, a man we called Mr. Bill, an angel in the journalism office, and others you will long remember, as will his granddaughters.

“Duke the Final Chapter” is the feature story in this book. Duke was a favorite pet and part of the family. Duke was a kind and gentle dog who would never hurt anyone or anything. He would befriend any animal except cats. He would chase them...given the chance, but was lucky enough to never have caught one. Duke was friendly to most people. He would bark at strangers and scare people he didn’t know. He never bit or nipped anyone.

The remaining stories are little tidbits from the life of the author and his family. I would hope that most people could see a little of themselves in this book and find joy in the reading of it.

We all come from immigrants. This country has become the great country it is because of immigrants. Immigrants came to America to seek a better life. Imagine if the original thirteen colonies had closed their doors to future immigrants. However, the word got out and people came from all over the world to see for themselves what this young country had to offer. America is the great experiment that has succeeded and has been fought for because of a government for and by the people. In the beginning America was blessed with leadership by the Founding Fathers who created a new government which has governed us all until today.

We are a melting pot of different people with different cultures unlike other countries that have one main culture as a foundation. We all have our story to tell about how our great grandparents and grandparents struggled and prevailed in those early years when they arrived in America. I humbly attempted to do so in this book. We should not change America by banning immigrants from America. America has to be the land of the free. America has to have open arms and stand by the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.

Raised in a poverty lifestyle, as a five-year-old boy, I was traumatized due to a life-changing accident. I was later confined to a hospital bed at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Amarillo, Texas. I lost half of my eyesight, but that was only the beginning of my challenging experiences. Growing up was a living nightmare as I discovered how lonely life could be. Kids made fun of my appearance. The jokes continued throughout grade school, junior high, and even high school.

I had doubts about a lot of things in life until God surprised me with yet another talent, or another person in my life. God put opportunities in front of me. God gave me gifts in the world of sports, which became my counseling during my youth.

As a young adult, I faced yet another nightmare. I lost my wife to brain cancer and became a single dad instantly. This was one of the toughest challenges I dealt with. When things happened to me, sometimes it was because of human error, or evil in this world. And yes, sometimes God allowed certain things to happen for His reasons. God was always there to help me overcome and rise above my darkest hours. When I actually started getting to know Jesus Christ, my faith grew and things started turning around for me.

As I continue to age, I find it harder to remember the things I would like to write about. At least three times in the ensuing years since I last wrote a book, my life has been spared in situations that could have easily gone the other way. I wanted to write at least one or more books before I go over the divide, so this is the next installment in my life and the experiences that influence it.

A boy grows up in the 1950s, starting out life in a tobacco barn with a loving family but with no prospects for a successful life. But nobody told him. Jimmy has true adventures of his own as a kid, then goes to work 105 hours a week at age twelve. In college he carries out grand raids, earning him an invitation by the judge to join the Army.

Life changes forever in Vietnam. Jim’s platoon goes up against North Vietnamese regiments. He is severely wounded, and this time he is told that he will never walk again. He didn’t listen.

He serves 25 successful years as an infantry officer. He gives rides to hitch-hikers in South Central L.A., until he is attacked by a crazed junkie with a gun. He builds a toy store in Hawaii, and takes revenge on a video game theft ring. Travel with him to Korea and live with business girls, the black market and slickie-boys.

You never have to grow up. If you want life to be an adventure, it will be. If you want to enjoy life, you will. If you want to be successful, you will succeed.

The story is sometimes brutal and tragic, sometimes just plain (literate) country, and sometimes satire of real people you already know. It’s adventure, and it’s fun.

A Persian Promise is the memoir of Dr. Hossein Sakhai, a highly successful neurosurgeon from Huntington, West Virginia.

At the age of 15, Hossein was greatly motivated by the untimely death of his older brother from typhoid fever. Vowing to improve life for his fellowman and his community, he set for himself the most lofty goal he could conceive. With determination, persistence, intelligence, and a supercharged worth ethic, he satisfied his Persian promise as he became not only an accomplished neurosurgeon but a very successful business entrepreneur.

Despite Dr. Sakhai’s professional success, he was continuously challenged by the culture clash between his Iranian Islamic heritage and his family life in America. After four unsuccessful marriages and many stressful family trials, Hossein, at the age of 85, views his life with clarity and wisdom and pens this memoir for the benefit of his children and their progeny.

A Pastor of more than 40 years takes a humorous look at growing up, finding God, and entering the ministry.

An important book to read, lest you think that knucklehead growing up in your house doesn’t have a chance.

With e-mails inundating us, I think this will be my last personal letter. John asked me some time ago to write about the highlights of our lives, and once again I’m too late. John is gone now and I apologize to him for not doing this sooner. But I do feel that he will somehow be aware of this and I hope that his family enjoys it. This letter will abound in digressions, but that’s the way our lives were.