In 2006, Tom and his wife, Beth Hewson, moved to Ontario, Canada. If he hadn’t written a book about the death of his brother as a teenager and asked me to edit it for him, I would know him even less now than I did 15 years ago. Instead, I feel very connected to Tom. I’m excited that his memoir, Seasoned: A Memoir of Grief and Grace has been printed. And I’ll be front and center at his first reading at St. John’s on Tuesday, April 25 at 7 p.m.

I feel the kinship with Tom on several levels. I understand his pride and his anxiety in the fact that people will now be able to read his book. I felt the same way when Divine Renovations came out, and I started taking it out in the world, wondering what people would think.

I also feel a deep connection to Tom’s story of loss. His brother Steve was hit by a car and killed while both boys were doing their paper routes. Steve was 15. Tom was 14. As his family buried their son and brother, they also buried their grief.

I empathize and understand the quiet mourning because my parents also lost a son. My brother Johnny died of leukemia at 10 years old, before I was born. I came around three years later and somehow, even though we didn’t talk about Johnny much, I still felt the loss.

I first read Tom’s manuscript a year ago. We have worked together since then to tighten and trim the book, and when it was ready, we turned it over to Maureen Scanlon of The Creative, and she designed the cover and insides, and brought it to life.

I communicated with Tom via Skype and email. My role in readying the manuscript was to make it more powerful and a little less personal. I remember telling Tom in that early phase to think of the book as if it were a family photo album. Together, we worked to remove images that were redundant, to add shots that brought new layers and voices into the story and to bring some images into better focus.

Tom greatly appreciated this work. In his acknowledgements at the back of the book, Tom says, “The skill, sensitivity, and professionalism of my editor, Janice Beetle, are gifts that helped to sharpen, shorten, and sweeten the narrative. Her challenge to go deeper into early interactions with Steve led me to new understandings I had never before considered.”

I’m very proud of those words, and I’m very proud of Tom. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia in the late 1960s, and has also been a preschool teacher and director, a child care counselor, a city parks and recreation superintendent, and a New Games trainer. He holds degrees from Valparaiso University in Indiana, George Williams College in Illinois, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

His book, Seasoned, is not just a story of grief and recovery, though. It is also a tender and lighthearted look at humor and laughter, winning and losing, and doubt and faith. It’s a book about family, fun, laughter and love.

Please join me at Tom’s reading on April 25. Hear him tell his story and buy a book! Proceeds from the sales will benefit the Stephen A. Zink Scholarship fund at Steve’s alma mater, Lutheran High School West in Rocky River, Ohio.

The post Author to Read April 25 in Northampton appeared first on Beetle Press.

Zink was a member of St. John’s during the 23 years that he and his wife, Beth Hewson, lived in Northampton with their sons, Jesse and Jody. Zink completed a doctoral degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1988.

Zink was born in a blizzard in 1947, a child of winter. Seasoned: A Memoir of Grief and Grace is the story of Tom’s unwitting grief journey of five decades that began when his older brother Steve was hit by a car and killed while on the paper route the two boys shared. It’s the story of a con­servative German Lutheran family and the ways in which the parents and surviving children protected each other in loss with a silent acceptance that did not serve them in the long run.

Zink buried his grief along with his brother so he could carry on with his life. His career after high school took him around the world, across the country and back again. It was only after Zink was married and a father of two teenaged sons that, in a moment of profound grace, he realized the depth and importance of his loss. His faith and new-found desire as an adult to process his brother’s death lifted him out of his personal permafrost of grief and took him full circle back to his brother’s grave.

Seasoned is not merely a story of grief and recovery, though. It is also a tender and lighthearted look at humor and laughter, winning and losing, and doubt and faith.

Zink served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia in the late 1960s, and has also been a preschool teacher and director, a child care counselor, a city parks and recreation superintendent, and a New Games trainer.

He worked in public health in the Pioneer Valley for 18 years, and, in 2006, moved to Ontario to work as a tobacco control manager until retiring in 2010.

Proceeds from the sale of Zink’s book will benefit the Stephen A. Zink Scholarship at Steve’s alma mater, Lutheran High School West in Rocky River, Ohio.

The post Author Tom Zink Returns to Northampton from Canada to Read from his Memoir appeared first on Beetle Press.