Former Iowan and author Millie Armstrong Kalish visits Vinton, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids

Even a strong, damaging thunderstorm couldn't keep people as young as Girl Scouts to the elderly in wheel chairs away from hearing Millie Armstrong Kalish discuss her book "Little Heathens" at the Tilton Elementary School in Vinton, Ia. on Tuesday, September 17.

Eighty-five and living with her husband, Harry, in Cupertino, Ca., Millie still gets excited traveling around the country talking about her book and the memories she has of the years growing up on her grandparents farm near Garrison, Ia. (Benton County) during the Great Depression.

On her Web site, Millie writes that "My growing-up was influenced by the Great Depression and by the self-reliance and work ethic of my mother's parents -- themselves descendants of pioneers who never quite made it into the 20th Century.  Little Heathens details the remarkable challenges and the inestimable rewards of living a rural life where children were expected to accept responsibilities beyond the ordinary."

In Vinton, Millie described how even young children like herself understood the gravity of the Great Depression.  She remembers as a little girl coming into a room where her family sat crying.  They'd just learned that uncles and aunts had lost their farms, their livestock and machinery...their livelihood. 

"Nobody could understand 10 cent pigs and 10 cent corn," said Millie.  "We just knew something terrible had happened."

Beyond the hardships, Millie weaves wonderful stories of the fun she, her brothers and her cousins had just being kids in the country.  She also shares recipes she learned growing up, including Cotton Top muffins and applesauce cake. 

Millie regales her readers with her memories of carefree days spent picking nuts, flowers and playing in the creek with a healthy dose of the reality of living without running water or electricity.

Accompanying Millie and her husband on their trip to Iowa were her son, Doug and his wife, Donna.

"I didn't really appreciate how hard her life had been until later.  After reading her book, I appreciated the hardships she endured," said Doug.

"Her relationship to nature was always communicated through walks in the woods, on the beaches, and camping in the woods," Doug said.  "I was surprised when my friends didn't know the species on a particular bird or flower.  We grew up learning those things."

Millie did book reviews in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, as well as Vinton, and plans to return to Iowa next spring for a book reading at the Des Moines Public Library.