Ralph Strong (my father) retired in 1965 from the Post Office after 32 years of service. It seemed that other than doing a little fishing and woodwork he had the writing of this book in mind. It had been a dream of his for years to write and publish a book. I remember as a teen-aged kid watching him at an old manual smith-corona typewriter pound the book together using the hunt and peck method of typing. Quite a challenge for him as he had very large hands and fingers. I remember helping him set up the photo equipment in the shop to take pictures of the many faded old photos for the book for publishing. I remember how proud he was of the finished manuscript and how copies were made for friends, relatives and I believe even several museums to pour over. I remember his disappointment when publishers turned him down or asked for seemingly large sums of money to publish the book. I was a teen-ager involved with my friends, school work and sports and wasn’t even curious to read the book. One seems to have no appreciation for one’s roots until it’s too late to ask all the questions. Fortunately for me, he left behind this book, many photos, diaries and other goodies. These items have been mostly in my possession for years and it is time to share them with all. Whereas he could never afford to publish only a few copies of his book, now, because of the Internet, I can share him and his book with the world.
This site will be added to on a regular basis until all the manuscript and photos are published. In addition, many of the photos not included in the original manuscript will be made available through this icon. Click it for additional photos and text not included in the original. It has been my intention to leave his work relatively unchanged but for spelling errors and clarification hence the use of the icon for additional materials. Originally the book had no table of contents but for better navigation on the Web, I have added one. Also look around for the new icon to see what may have been added since the last time you visited. You can always check here to see the version history of the site to allow you to “catch up.”
This site has been developed mostly though scanning the original document. Pages of text have been first imaged in a scanner and then using Optical Character Recognition software has been turned into editable text. Most of the photos as well are scanned. Here the process has been to refine the quality of the photos many of which are so dirty or faded that it is difficult to discern much in the photo. This “digital magic” does wonders to give us a better glimpse into the past. Many of the images are scanned from original photos, some are unfortunately photos of photos and have lost quality. Also, unfortunately, most of the negatives have turned up missing except for a few dozen recently discovered. Much of the photography is explained in the first sections of the book.
Lastly, I hope you really enjoy his work. He was for me the most loving father a boy could ever ask for and I thank God I was his son.
Click it for additional photos and text not included in the original. It has been my intention to leave his work relatively unchanged but for spelling errors and clarification hence the use of the icon for additional materials. Originally the book had no table of contents but for better navigation on the Web, I have added one. Also look around for the new icon
to see what may have been added since the last time you visited. You can always check