It’s April already and I am anxiously awaiting sunshine and warmer weather. What an interesting journey the last three months, the numerous re-writes for Dearest Minnie, resolving issues, keeping the faith in my work and looking for venues for book signing and short lectures. I am passionate about this work and all my research. During my writing I had Minnie’s photograph next to my computer; she became a voice inside my head and my heart. I needed to tell her…
What a great group of people who have registered for my class! We have one last meeting to get our White Fleet battleships home to Hampton Roads, Virginia where they will be stripped of their gold filigree and painted the ‘battleship grey’. We were lucky to have a gentleman bring to class and display a stadimeter for all of us to see. This was the instrument the officer of the day used to determine the distance between his ship and…
Southern Oregon had an unusual way of welcoming the new year; with snow and temperatures in the teens. Many of us were house-bound for a few days. The good thing about all of this, the drivers have become courteous, and cautious. Nice for a change. As I write this the sky has darkened; it is beginning to rain/snow again. Classes at SOU/OLLI were canceled the first part of last week so my first class on the Great White Fleet will…
Travel with Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet Travel with Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet of sixteen battleships as they cruised around the world, the first fleet to do so. This documented event is only a couple of paragraphs in most history books. Students will learn about the battleships, the reason for the cruise, the political climate, the animals aboard, the entertainment at each port and aboard ship, and the unexpected mishaps. This is a lecture course that will highlight over 200…
My book, Dearest Minnie, began when I was ten years old though I didn’t know it at the time. I received a large box containing three albums filled with postcards from around the world from an estate of someone I had never met. I spent hours studying the pictures on the cards. As an adult my fascination grew. I took the postcards out of their disintegrating albums to discover they had been sent to my grandfather’s cousin, Minnie Camp from the USS Virginia during the…
Leslie Compton, an author of non-fiction and memoirs. Travel with a sailor around the world on the USS Virginia with Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet in 1907-1909. This story is told through letters and 200+ postcards. After 6 years of research, Dearest Minnie, will be available in 2017.