Senior citizen's game inspired local author's latest book on family, history

Mary Sue Anton has lived a long, full life. From the small town of New Madrid to Kansas City and south to Texas, she has seen her fair share of U.S. history. To tell her story and reflect on the historical times and events she lived through, Anton has written her newest book, "Leaving the Homeplace: Tales Beyond the Levee".

Anton now lives in Texas in an independent senior citizen home, where she decided to start writing her book. During COVID-19, those living in the senior citizen home were not able to eat lunch together, but instead were given games to play to fill their time. Games such as telephone, where they would sit in a circle and say a phrase from one person to the next.

“That game was something I did in first grade. That's where I got the idea, 'OK, I think these people should tell their life stories.'"

So Anton came up with sets of questions — such as where were their parents and grandparents from? — and gave the residents seven questions a week to write about.

But after about a month, Anton didn't receive any answers to her questions, so she decided, "I'm going to write my own life story. So that's how the idea came about,” she said.

Anton has lived a full life, living through many historic times and events, such as the Great Depression, World War II, the rollicking 1960s, the Space Age, and 9/11, and gives her spin on these events in her way.

“ I grew up in a big family of 10 children. My father was a dairy farmer and an early marriage so we grew up pretty poor. We lived in a tenant house when I was born, out in the country, down the road from my father's home and everything but later on, I moved to Kansas City because we're Catholic and we're boarding school and high school. This was in the late 1940s after that, I went back to my hometown and worked for a while.”

Anton talks about how she met her husband through the boarding house who happened to be his aunt and uncle in the book. How as a couple they moved to Cape Girardeau where she put her husband through school for the first time of two, while they started their family. She said they lived in Cape for about four years before moving to Kennett where her husband was transferred.

“Just out of the blue one night, he decided he wanted to be a medical doctor. I think it was in his mind all along. He'd never mentioned it to me though, he had several medical doctors in his family. That's probably where that came from. I had to go back to work and get a job while he went to medical school. We were very naive back then because we just bought a house and a brand-new car. The kids were in second and third grade, so they were all settled in their school. This was in Southeast Missouri in Kennett. And we had to move back to the middle of the state to Columbia for his medical school,” Anton said.

Throughout the book, Anton gives her outlook on the events happening around her while she is also navigating her own life in the ever-changing world while also moving from place to place and raising a family.

“At its core, 'Leaving the Home Place' is one woman's story of growing up in a large family, moving out, and making her way in the world, and readers of all ages will appreciate the light-hearted stories that reflect Mary Sue's steadfast faith in God and never failing love of family,” according to a news release about the book.

Anton used entries from diaries, her family’s newsletter, and her siblings or their children to help write their own stories to put the book together.

“In our family, we have published our family newsletter; we had about 20 years of family newsletters. So some of the things I got out of that,” Anton said.

Anton said she wanted to write the book because people need to know history, and she feels she has lived through enough to tell her story as well.

This is Anton's fourth book, which she also said will probably be her last. Her previous three cover the history of New Madrid, New Madrid County and her family's genelogy.

"Leaving the Homeplace: Tales Beyond the Levee" is available through major booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon, or from www.AcclaimPress.com. The New Madrid Historical Museum has a commemorative edition with proceeds supporting the museum. Anton also has a website — www.MarySueAnton.com.