Former Uniontown resident fictionalizes grandmother’s story in novel
David Stillwagon, a former Uniontown resident, grew up hearing stories of his grandmother鈥檚 life raising children on a farm near New Salem in the early 20th Century.
As he aged, he pondered the difficulties she faced bearing 12 children and losing triplets at a young age in 1918, during the Spanish flu pandemic. She lost four children and raised eight to adulthood. He re-imagined her story in 鈥淔ields of Timothy,鈥� a novel he recently self-published on Amazon.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 something I often talked to my mother about years ago, and I often wondered how my grandmother dealt with losing triplets in the year 1918, and I often wondered how difficult it would be having all those kids and having to watch them with having newborns,鈥� said Stillwagon, who now lives in the Atlanta area.
He added a fictionalized character to his grandmother鈥檚 story. The protagonist, Katie Collier is a farm girl and a neighbor to Ellen and John Marlowe. She begins working for the couple to help raise the children, escaping an abusive alcoholic father at home.
鈥淪he longs for the day that she can live free from his clutches and see things beyond the hills and valleys of her small world,鈥� Stillwagon wrote in the book鈥檚 synopsis.
The novel follows Collier as she heads off on a new journey, to become a nurse.
鈥淥ver the course of a year she finds happiness, romance with Will Marlowe, as well as sorrow, the death of the triplets, and Ellen Marlowe鈥檚 plunge into a deep depression. Katie鈥檚 faith is restored in her return to church as she befriends the pastor, who suggests that she become a nurse,鈥� the synopsis said.
Stillwagon was 7 when his grandmother died, and his mother passed away in 2012. He started writing the book before his mother died, and in the last year, he decided to move forward with editing and publishing.
He said he contemplated the differences in society and how tragedy 鈥� even the loss of multiple children 鈥� was largely a burden to bear alone.
鈥淚t was tough back then, because they didn鈥檛 deal with the psychology and the psychiatry, so they had to more or less deal with it on their own,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t must have been devastating for her and very hard to deal with.鈥�
His grandfather was a farmer and a butcher, and his grandmother worked on the farm in addition to raising the children. Stillwagon鈥檚 mother was the youngest child in the large family. Their farmhouse, along Route 40, remains standing about five miles from Uniontown on a 100-acre property. It was inherited by Stillwagon鈥檚 uncle, and Stillwagon often visited as a child. It was later sold to another family.
鈥淚t was something that I wanted to write for a long time. I feel like everyone has a story in them, and this is the story that I wanted to tell,鈥� he said.
Stillwagon graduated from Uniontown Area High School in 1976, and from California University of Pennsylvania in 1980. He moved to the Atlanta area and worked in payroll processing at Ceridian for 25 years. He retired after contracting Meniere鈥檚 disease, a vertigo disorder. He has one son, who will soon be headed to college.
Stillwagon is also working on a sequel to the book, which is in the editing process. He hopes to publish the book before Christmas.