The Bones of Beacon Hill

Steve Repko

Description

Steve Repko was born in 1932 amid the Great Depression of that period and was raised buy Hungariant immigran parents t, John and Tressa. His faather was a ccoal miner who passed away suddenly 1n1935 durning a mining accident leaving a wife and nine chirdren to suffen in utter poverty for many years. Steve would eventually serve four years in the United States Air Force as a Control Tower Operaton in a bomber base that was active during the Koread War and upon his discharge from the air force, he spent 35 years as a civilian Enroute AirTraffic Controller for The FAA. He has written three novels refering to his rich memorie of his childhood days that he is proud of. His desire is to preserve those memories to the decendents of all people who lived during that period as part of the Great Generation. Steve is married to RoseMarie and has recently celebrated their 67 year together. They have four children, eleven grandchildren and twenve great grandchildren. He and RoseMary currently live in Wading River New Jerse,

Sujets

• Science Fiction
• Beacon (satélites)
• Beacon
• Hill
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 30 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669847144
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE BONES OF BEACON HILL
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Steve Repko
 
Copyright © 2022 by Steve Repko.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022919047
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-4716-8

Softcover
978-1-6698-4715-1

eBook
978-1-6698-4714-4
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 10/10/2022
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
846558
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE : THE TRUTH HURTS
In 1948, eighteen-year-old Glenden Heller discovers that Bob and Myra Heller, who raised him since birth, are not his real parents. His birth mother, Betsy, left him with friends shortly after he was born, vowing to return for him, but she never did. It is the beginning of Glenden’s seven-year search for her.
CHAPTER TWO : GLENDEN PONDERS HIS FATE
Glenden visits Emma’s Café to speak to Emma and Stash. From there, he climbs to the top of Beacon Hill and rests beneath the ugly tree to try and come to a logical understanding of what had just happened in his life. He realizes that he has far less answers than questions, and if he is to ever learn the truth about his birth, he will have to find it himself.
CHAPTER THREE : THE HISTORY OF BEACON HILL
The story recedes to the 1920 decade to establish the history of Beacon Hill and introduces the inhabitants who live on the farms on the mountaintop. Luther Borman Jr., the son of Luther and Mary Borman, suffers through the dysfunctional marriage of his parents until Mary abandons him and his father. Luther divorces Mary and marries Linda.
CHAPTER FOUR : THE GOOD TIMES ARE OVER
The Great Depression unfolds. The miners in the Coon Valley face financial ruin. Wanda Heller and Margy Borman are born in 1929, and Glenden is born on Groundhog Day. Betsy leaves him at the café and never returns. Junior learns that Linda is not his real mother, and his search for his birth mother begins.
CHAPTER FIVE : THE DARKEST YEARS
Sisters Valarie and Karen Sproul both receive a substantial legacy when their father passed away in 1933. The Murphys lost their farm, and the Sproul sisters purchase it. The world is threatened by the armies of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Franklin Roosevelt is elected president, and the Depression recovery begins. A flood control dam is constructed in a valley on the north side of Beacon Hill. Wanda, Margy, Patty Yoder, and Junior enter grade school in Shamrock.
CHAPTER SIX : JOHN YODER’S BONE
The Depression continues. Poverty and despair spreads rampantly in the Coon Valley John Yoder finds a thigh bone, and the assumption among the locals is that it is from a young girl murdered and discarded on the slope of Beacon Hill. The discovery results in near panic among the highly superstitious immigrants of Shamrock. Evil rumors and prophecies amplify the residents. The state police assign Sgt. Chuck Burns to resolve the incident.
CHAPTER SEVEN : WAR CLOUDS DARKEN THE HORIZON
Germany, Japan, and Italy form a military pact. Our nation prepares for war. Fighting breaks out in Europe and Africa. The United States aids Russia and Great Britain with war supplies. The search for an ID for Yoder’s bone continues. Elbe Boone is convicted of assault and robbery of an elderly lady.
CHAPTER EIGHT : WAR IS HELL
Elbe Boone is drafted, goes AWOL, and is assumed dead. Valarie Sproul leaves Beacon Hill and is still missing. The casualties of the war continue to mount. The world is tired of the war. The end is near. Junior and Thresa search for Mary.
CHAPTER NINE : INDEPENDENCE DAY 1945
The annual Fourth of July holiday is celebrated at the Newtonville Fire Company’s park. Patty Yoder drinks too much at the park and struggles to make it home the next morning. She has a violent confrontation with her father and leaves home. Junior leaves the army. He and Thresa are married. The search for Mary continues. Linda and Luther’s marriage remains in the throes of a vicious divorce. The search for Valarie continues.
CHAPTER TEN : MORE BONES
A second set of bones is discovered. Patty Yoder is still missing and determined to be the donor. Sergeant Burns is tasked to investigate her case. Johnny secretly leaves Beacon Hill. Another puzzling crisis on Beacon Hill evolves. Valarie Sproul is still missing.
CHAPTER ELEVEN : RETURN TO 1948
This chapter is a continuation of events covered in chapter 2. Stash dies. Glenden and Margy delay their marriage until June of 1949. The Korean War begins one year later. Junior is reactivated by the army and is sent to Korea. Glenden fears that he might be drafted by the army and enlisted in the air force in 1951.
CHAPTER TWELVE : WHERE HAVE ALL THE YOUNG MEN GONE?
The war in Korea continues to escalate. Junior is involved. Glenden is stationed at Yokota AFB in Japan. He learns that he will not be returning to the United States for two years. Glenden and Junior meet in Tachikawa, Japan. They exchange personal feelings of home, the bones, and Patty Yoder and share their cryptic thoughts about the disappearances of their mothers.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN : PATTY YODER AND ELBE BOONE ARE ALIVE
The Korean War is over. Junior comes home. Patty Yoder visits Beacon Hill. She shocks everyone and reveals the truth about her disappearance. Valarie Sproul is still missing. She becomes the new candidate for ownership of the second set of bones. Elbe and the Morgan boys rob a bank in Akron. Elbe is arrested for car theft. Michael Morgan is arrested for bank robbery. Jimmy Morgan disappears.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN : GREEN GRASS OF HOME
Glenden arrives back home. He and Margy travel to Wheeling to search for Betsy’s past. They learn that she was seriously ill when she left. The FBI visits Beacon Hill, hoping to locate the stolen bank money. The site where the two strangers alleged to have buried something has been dug up and the contents removed. Glenden completes his enlistment and decides on the air force. Valarie is declared dead. Karen sells the farm and leaves the area.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN : MARY AND THE THIGH BONE
Mary’s family hire a private detective to investigate her disappearance. Luther’s divorce papers are voided by the Clay County Court. Luther and his lawyer are accused of fraud. Mary’s whereabouts are still unknown. Pressure mounts on Luther’s involvement in Mary’s disappearance. Michael is arrested and convicted in the bank robbery.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN : MARY BORMAN IS DEAD
Luther comes clean that Mary died in her sleep and that he dumped her over the ledge from Ridge Road. He had created a story to convince Linda that he was divorced. With strong objections from the Henderson family, Mary is determined to be the owner of Yoder’s bone, and Valarie Sproul has contributed the second set. Valarie’s remains are buried by Karen Sproul. Yoder’s bone is not accepted by her family.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN : THE END OF THE SEARCH FOR BETSY
Betsy’s cousin Amy is contacted. Betsy died just a few weeks after she left Beacon Hill. Amy and Glenden meet and exchange memories of her life. Glenden finally knows the entire story of his birth mother. His father remains unknown. Glenden has closure. The mysteries of Mary Borman and Betsy Shuster’s disappearances are resolved, but the true origin of the bones of Beacon Hill lives on.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN : MAYBE THE CAPTAIN KNOWS
The end. Glenden reviews the past and the current lives on of the farmers on Beacon Hill. The identity of the bones still remains questionable. Where is captain Bekon. Maybe he knows the answer.
INTRODUCTION
Beacon Hill is a fictional mountain in the coal mining region of western Pennsylvania. Typical in size and shape of many other mountains in the Allegheny range with steep, forested slopes, it is capped with a rounded top, suitable for farming. Three hundred acres of the mountaintop were awarded to Capt. Joshua Bekon in return for his services during the American Revolution. Initially inhabited by Indians and pioneers, Bekon cleared and farmed the land, eventually passing it down through the years until the 1920 era, when this story begins.
This story follows the lives of Luther Borman Jr. and Glenden Heller, born and raised on Beacon Hill, and their long and frustrating efforts to locate their birth mothers who left them shortly after they were born and were never heard from again.
The problems that the two boys encountered during their arduous personal searches occurred throughout the era better known for the Great Depression of the thirties, World War II, and the Korean War. Luther Borman Jr., better known as Junior, was five years old when his journey began after he learned that the lady that he called Mom was his stepmother and that his birth mother left home when he was just two years old and was never seen again. Luther Borman Sr. quickly di