My Music Man

My Music Man
184 Pages
ISBN 978-1945805417

My Music Man illustrates the power of storytelling through narratives of seven generations of family living near Oregon’s Willamette River. As Dede Montgomery moves through grief to accept the death of her father, stories shed light on change, acceptance, and forgiveness among people and the land around them. The reader is catapulted into autumn on the Willamette’s riverbank in the 1960s with the author and her brothers, where they discover their father's own childhood stories and the intimate relationship he shares with the land. Tales about generations of family weave between time periods, held together by the constancy of place and colored by Willamette Valley memories. Father-daughter relationships are explored and the impact of alcohol and recovery gently infuse the storyline, along with the role and expectations of girls and women through the century and a half of shared stories.

Dede Montgomery

About Dede Montgomery (Portland, Oregon Author)

Dede Montgomery

Dede Montgomery is a sixth-generation Oregonian who writes about past and present Oregon in her blog, "Musings on Life in Oregon," and her 2017 memoir, "My Music Man." Dede’s deep connection to the Willamette Valley is evidenced by the stories she weaves into her writing from seven generations of her family including Salem’s first “power couple” (Chloe Clark and William Willson), book publisher J.K. Gill, steamship engineer Sam Gill, author Richard Gill Montgomery, Sr. (The White Headed Eagle), and Dick Montgomery, maritime writer and historian. Dede’s first novel, "Beyond the Ripples," will be released by her publisher, Bedazzled Ink, in 2019. Dede also works in research outreach and education at OHSU. Learn more about Dede on her blog and website at: http://dedemontgomery.com

Dede lives with her husband in West Linn, Oregon where she is active with the West Linn Historical Society, and never tires of exploring new places along the banks of the Willamette River.