Seasons of Grief and Grace: A Sister's Story of Aids

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Susan Ford Wiltshire and John Ford grew up in the Texas Panhandle, "taking the long view of things, where there was lots to think about because there was nothing to see except the horizon twenty-five miles away." The four Ford children were taught the value of learning and hard work by their father, a cowboy with a serious love of poetry, and their mother, a Texas woman whose rural roots did not prevent her from mastering Latin or reading all of Shakespeare. Susan became a noted classics scholar, while John's ...
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Overview

Susan Ford Wiltshire and John Ford grew up in the Texas Panhandle, "taking the long view of things, where there was lots to think about because there was nothing to see except the horizon twenty-five miles away." The four Ford children were taught the value of learning and hard work by their father, a cowboy with a serious love of poetry, and their mother, a Texas woman whose rural roots did not prevent her from mastering Latin or reading all of Shakespeare. Susan became a noted classics scholar, while John's work in Republican politics led to his appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Agriculture in the Reagan Administration, from which he resigned in frustration to become active in the American Farm Movement. Just two weeks before his death, he was given the Heroes of American Agriculture Award. When disaster struck and John was diagnosed with AIDS, Susan began writing a work reminiscent of May Sarton's journals, Madeleine L'Engle's Two-Part Invention, and Jessamyn West's The Woman Said Yes. Drawing on the force of family bonds and her humanistic training in classical studies for comfort and guidance, she shows us two siblings sharing an agonizing but special journey, finding opportunities rather than resignation, commitment rather than withdrawal, and strength instead of defeat. This is, in short, a good and inspiring story - one that will help point the way for the millions of others - those who are HIV positive as well as their friends and families - who bear the emotional wounds this disease is inflicting on ever-increasing numbers of us.

When disaster struck and her brother John was diagnosed with AIDS, Susan Ford Wiltshire and her brother began an agonizing but special journey together. This is the story of that journey--a story of finding possibilities rather than resignation, of finding strength instead of defeat. Wiltshire's memoir gives voice to all family members touched by this terrible disease.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
This intensely personal, inspirational story by Vanderbilt Univ. classics scholar Wiltshire (Greece, Rome, and the Bill of Rights) narrates her ``vigil'' with her younger brother, John Ford, a former Department of Agriculture officer who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986 and died in 1993. The author, whom John called his ``most important friend,'' uses excerpts from her journal to trace the patient's spiritual odyssey and the involvement by the West Texas extended family in the ``enormous social calamity'' as members of the AIDS community. Photos. (Oct.)
Whitney Scott
This is a sister's story of her much beloved brother--her "other wing" and "littermate"--as they moved through childhood together and then as she journeyed into his adult life when she first learned he was gay, then, later, that he was HIV-positive, and then, yet later, that he had full-blown AIDS. John Ford moved to the Southwest with his life partner, only to find that his real estate holdings in Washington, D.C.--his well-planned hedge against future medical expenses--were unsalable. As his finances crumbled, his fevers soared, and his T-cell counts plummeted, John distanced himself from his sister, not telephoning during increasingly frequent bouts of illness. Susan tried coping with her grief, rage, and fear by limiting crying bouts to specified times, writing many letters, praying, and reading every available account of the AIDS crisis. Her book includes perhaps too many of those letters as well as a list of books she found helpful.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780826512611
  • Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
  • Publication date: 10/28/1994
  • Edition description: 1st ed
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 216
  • Product dimensions: 5.76 (w) x 8.75 (h) x 0.91 (d)

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 9, 2003

    A brave struggle!

    I live in Lubbock, Texas, where much of this story takes place, and I happen to know some of the people Dr. Ford mentions. But that was hardly the only reason I wanted to read this compassionate biography. Dr. Ford shows how her brother bravely faced AIDS and the bigotry related to it. Despite its subject matter, this book is never depressing. Instead, Dr. Ford captures the inspirational aspects of her brother¿s life and how it touched the lives of people around him. I found her poems about his struggle especially touching and hope she¿ll share more of those in another book.

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