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September 16, 2009

Valley native’s new book centers around hill near Hymera

Author signing copies of tome this weekend at Waldenbooks

By Arthur E. Foulkes

TERRE HAUTE — A nationally published author with deep family roots in the Wabash Valley will be at Waldenbooks at Honey Creek Mall Sunday signing copies of his most recent work.

Frank Gertcher, author of the newly released “Shaman on Wind Grass Hill,” will stop in Terre Haute as part of a Midwest tour promoting the new book. He plans to sign copies Sunday at Waldenbooks between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., he said.

“It’s a special place,” Gertcher, 66, who now lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., said of the Wabash Valley. “I look back … Indiana and growing up in the country and growing up the way I did. It was a special way of life … It’s part of my heritage.”

Gertcher was born in Clinton and grew up fishing, hunting and trapping along the Wabash River, he said. His family would later move to the small town of Lyford across the river from Clinton and then to a farm north of Hymera. He attended Hymera High School, from which he graduated in 1961.

“Shaman on Wind Grass Hill” is a fictional story that is centered around an actual hill north of Hymera near the Sullivan-Vigo county line. Gertcher describes the book as recording “snapshots in time” involving people and other creatures that lived near Wind Grass Hill over many generations. The story actually begins in prehistoric times and works its way through several important historic periods, including the Civil War and World War II, until reaching the present day.

An excerpt from the 239-page novel set near Wind Grass Hill in the early 1800s, reads:

“In the meantime, Lizzy was busy. She sang softly to herself; misshapen mud pies were lined up in a row in front of her crossed legs. She was content; it was a warm summer day. The yard was quiet, except for buzzing insects and contented cackles from the chickens, except for one. A certain rooster was making ominous cackles, interspersed with squawks. A small human had invaded his territory. He squawked again and cautiously approached Lizzy. She looked up, startled.”

Gertcher used to climb to the top of the hill he named Wind Grass Hill while he was growing up on the farm north of Hymera, he recalled. There he would watch the wildlife and think.

In the book, “There is a spirit of the hill that resides in the hill,” Gertcher explained. That spirit, called a “messenger from heaven” in the book, is charged with watching over the people and animals that live on and around the hill over all time. In a sense, Gertcher said, the book is “very spiritual,” although it does not impinge on any particular religion.

“Shaman on Wind Grass Hill” is mostly prose but also includes about 90 poems. One of the poems, set in prehistoric times, reads:

“Imagine a scene of ice, winds, and snow,

Of mega-beast pastures and pale winter glow,

No People roamed; trees failed to grow,

The hill formed then, an epoch ago.”

Gertcher, who has co-authored two college textbooks during his career in the military and as a professor, economist and scientist, will have copies of his book with him at the Waldenbooks signing, he said.

“Shaman on Wind Grass Hill” is available through book retailers, including Amazon.com, and normally sells for $15.95 plus tax.



Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

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