Tom Nelson

That's My Story, and I'm Sticking to It!: Fennimore . . . As I Remember Tom Nelson

During the four decades since Tom Nelson left his hometown of Fennimore, Wisconsin he has returned countless times. Now he revisits once again to recount his younger years during the 1940's and '50s. These were times when in a small Midwestern town farmer families shopped on Saturday nights while their children went to a double feature movie. The men folks congregated at the local billiard parlor and wives sat in parked cars on main street gossiping with neighbors. It was during the days when youngsters went to the park during the day for ball games and played nighttime games of kick-the-can, or hide-and-seek until called home for bedtime. Those same young people of the radio generation raced home from school on bicycles to listen to Captain Midnight and Superman before supper. Then joined their parents in the evenings and laughed over the likes of Jack Benny and Fibber McGee and Molly. It was a time when filling stations were full service, comic books were collected at 10c a copy, Drug Store fountains cokes sold for a nickel, doctors made house calls and veterans were returning from the war to march in Memorial Day parades. Tom's book is anecdotal in short story form, filled with names of friends and acquaintances as he fondly remembers his favorite people and events. By substituting the names this book could be the story of anyone's small town years.