RICHARDS BOOK 'HILLS OF HOME' TRANSLATED TO BRAILLE - Local Author Recalls Life Mid-20th Century (09/05/2020) If You Come Of Age In the 1950s, Hills of Home Is For You Hills of Home by author Debbie Richards Kristie Mills, teacher at the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf & Blind is having Debbie Richard’s memoir, HILLS OF HOME, about growing up in Appalachia, transcribed into Braille for students in her class and looks forward to reading it with them. Ms. Mills will also have paperback copies of HILLS OF HOME in her classroom for those students who are not visually impaired.   HILLS OF HOME received praise from the late Earl Hamner, Jr., bestselling author of Spencer's Mountain and creator of the beloved The Waltons television series:  "I think the book is a valuable detailed and most honest documentation of a part of Appalachia that has not been celebrated so well until now." Richard's book is an incredible chronicle of what it was like to grow up in early to mid-20th century West Virginia, covering life and times in Wirt, Calhoun and Roane County. The author grew up in Elizabeth and Walton. In fact, her life and the lives of her family will remind a reader strongly of the still popular television show “The Waltons,” that aired from 1971 to 1981 and in reruns in perpetuity. The Waltons were a large family all determined to navigate the bumps and roadblocks of life in rural Virginia, while cheerleading, advising and loving one another regardless of the problems — with life or one another. West Virginia has kept a foot in the door of old-time life perhaps a bit longer than most rural states, and if anyone remembers what the best of a region can be, it’s West Virginians. Richard writes multiple chapters about her family and neighbors who are grounded in what is often regarded as the Golden Age of American life, largely after World War II. In this time period, readers will find a mostly bucolic life, with hardworking, self-sufficient citizens who maintained a steadfast, optimistic outlook on life. Here’s a little jingle that one of Richard’s relatives chanted as beans and corn were planted: One for the bug One for the fly One for the Devil And one for I For more information on Debbie Richard’s books, visit her website: www.debbierichard.com