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http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051117/NEWS08/511170328/1010
Depending on how you communicate, the book signing by West Des Moines author Dan Hill of his book, "Primary Hall," Saturday in Valley Junction may have delivered a double meaning.
Spinal meningitis left Hill deaf at age 3 and his book is a literary memorial to the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs, which he attended in the 1930s. Sent to the school at age 5, Hill spent the nine-month school year away from his family.
"It was sad to leave my family in the fall. I cried, I missed them. But in time I found family in my schoolmates," Hill said, mouthing the words through his wife and interpreter, Bonnie Hill.
The family goodbyes were sad and the receptions home were a delight, but Hill always felt a connection to the school.
While the book is in part about Hill's academic progression, advancing from an inability to communicate to becoming a refined writer and signer, he insists it focuses on his home away from home, Primary Hall. When it was demolished in 2002, Hill said, he felt a need to help retain its memory, so revenue from his book sales will help pay for a memorial gazebo planned near the site.
The story and its cause moved the folks at Donna's Country Collections in Valley Junction to host the book signing.
Shirley Riley, an associate at Donna's, met Hill at the store and they kept running into one another on their regular circuit as mall walkers. It was while looping the mall that Riley learned Hill was writing a book.
"When he said all the proceeds would go to a memorial, I thought this is the kind of thing Donna's likes to be a part of, helping out the community," Riley said.
Doris Liebbe of West Des Moines purchased the book over the weekend.
"I came because he was signing books today, but I know him from the mall. I think it's a beautiful cause and he's so nice," Liebbe said.
The mall walkers' network is thick, but Dan Hill's association with another strong network is where the deepest appreciation is born.
Mattei Walker of Des Moines, a shop associate at Donna's, was quick to purchase the book. As a toddler, her brother was struck with viral meningitis, an illness that left him deaf, too.
"I bought the book for him," Walker said. "I want him to read it because they (Hill and her brother) are similar."
Speaking through a sign language interpreter was Marlene Kautzky of Des Moines, who as a child attended the school and lived in Primary Hall. She had her book signed by Hill.
Kautzky attended the school from her formative years to age 21 and said it was the site of her second family, too.
"It was a place where I could communicate with others who were like me, I could play sports, be normal," Kautzky signed. "It makes me sad that the building is gone; I miss it."
Depending on how you communicate, the book signing by West Des Moines author Dan Hill of his book, "Primary Hall," Saturday in Valley Junction may have delivered a double meaning.
Spinal meningitis left Hill deaf at age 3 and his book is a literary memorial to the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs, which he attended in the 1930s. Sent to the school at age 5, Hill spent the nine-month school year away from his family.
"It was sad to leave my family in the fall. I cried, I missed them. But in time I found family in my schoolmates," Hill said, mouthing the words through his wife and interpreter, Bonnie Hill.
The family goodbyes were sad and the receptions home were a delight, but Hill always felt a connection to the school.
While the book is in part about Hill's academic progression, advancing from an inability to communicate to becoming a refined writer and signer, he insists it focuses on his home away from home, Primary Hall. When it was demolished in 2002, Hill said, he felt a need to help retain its memory, so revenue from his book sales will help pay for a memorial gazebo planned near the site.
The story and its cause moved the folks at Donna's Country Collections in Valley Junction to host the book signing.
Shirley Riley, an associate at Donna's, met Hill at the store and they kept running into one another on their regular circuit as mall walkers. It was while looping the mall that Riley learned Hill was writing a book.
"When he said all the proceeds would go to a memorial, I thought this is the kind of thing Donna's likes to be a part of, helping out the community," Riley said.
Doris Liebbe of West Des Moines purchased the book over the weekend.
"I came because he was signing books today, but I know him from the mall. I think it's a beautiful cause and he's so nice," Liebbe said.
The mall walkers' network is thick, but Dan Hill's association with another strong network is where the deepest appreciation is born.
Mattei Walker of Des Moines, a shop associate at Donna's, was quick to purchase the book. As a toddler, her brother was struck with viral meningitis, an illness that left him deaf, too.
"I bought the book for him," Walker said. "I want him to read it because they (Hill and her brother) are similar."
Speaking through a sign language interpreter was Marlene Kautzky of Des Moines, who as a child attended the school and lived in Primary Hall. She had her book signed by Hill.
Kautzky attended the school from her formative years to age 21 and said it was the site of her second family, too.
"It was a place where I could communicate with others who were like me, I could play sports, be normal," Kautzky signed. "It makes me sad that the building is gone; I miss it."
