I got my Mom to recite her memories into a hand-held recorder and give me all her old photographs...plus some of her hand-painted diagrams and artwork...and then I put it all together as a Microsoft "Word" document.

I had a few copies made up for my mother as a gift, at "Kinko's".  When the manager there begged me not to pick up my print order until she had the chance to finish reading it herself....I knew it must be a success! ;)

I’m still trying to convince my mother to have her life's story professionally edited and published as a book.   So far she has refused, saying she only wrote it as a personal gift and legacy for her own grandchildren.  However... I'm sure she’d love to get feedback from anyone who lived through similar trials in their lives.  Some McKay school classmates' parents or grandparents also immigrated from Europe, and probably went through similar experiences to share.

Methodist nuns repairing brick hospital walls in Germany, during WWII bombing
(my Mom is on the far left)

The First Dandelion

This is the story of my mother Sofia’s very colorful life...from her childhood in a tiny Yugoslavian village, through her youthful romances, her imprisonment in Germany during WWII, bouts with malaria & typhoid fever, 10 years living as a novice nun..(yes they really do have Methodists nuns in Germany, who wear habits just like Catholic nuns and take vows to remain unmarried and celibate for life).  And if you think nuns live boring lives, this will change your mind!

How she decided to come to the US, her experiences on the transport ship, how she and my Dad met....It also includes all the funny growing-up stories that I begged to hear over and over again, as a child.

Sofia (Havram) Derewianski
at age 18

Marian Derewianski (...my Dad)