An Echo of Ashes is a story lost to time, then found again in century-old letters that lay in a tattered box. Based on actual events taken from the pages, this story tells of when the Great War and the Spanish Influenza forever altered the lives of millions, including a family of subsistence farmers who also worked the oil fields of Pennsylvania.
Ella and Almon make their home in the backcountry. Almon and his sons work in the oil fields, just as their forefathers before them. As war and influenza break out, the parents seek to shield their family from the impending perils.
Earl, the eldest son, is a gifted trombone and piano player. He is captivated by Lucile Lake, a girl from a higher social status. All he has to win her heart are his music and his words as the military draft looms in the foreground. Jack, a friend as close as a brother, faces the horrors of war at the Western Front. Albert's free spirit creates chaos as he searches for direction. Arthur's patriotism leads him to the Mexican border. Young Russell must suppress his fear to save a life, while Little Clara remains protected from the distress.
World War One and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic are most often documented separately, yet they intersected in 1918. For those who endured sacrifice and loss during this time, looking
forward seemed their only choice. The sharp echo of tragedy, carried through the ashes of what once was, likely dulled but never vanished from their minds. This is just one of countless family stories from such a perilous chapter in American history.

BOOK EXCERPT
We are born into a specific moment in history and a particular place on Earth. These factors, whether advantageous or challenging, profoundly shape our lives, steering us down paths that, in another time and place, we might not have chosen.Before my father passed, he told me of a box in his house that he wanted me to have. My wife and I are keepers of the family genealogy and assumed that was why he was leaving it to us.My mother had passed four years before my father. Their home sat empty for months after they were gone. When the family had healed enough to clear out the memories, we discovered the box. I recognized it as the one I had seen in my grandparents’ home years before. We glanced through its contents of faded photographs, discolored letters, postcards, and yellowed newspaper clippings, before closing it again.Months later, my cousin, Craig Ames, learned of what I had received. He contacted me and brought more information from his side of the family, including an old trombone. Whether it was my father’s words that echoed in my mind, or that old trombone, something spurred me to reopen the box. I rummaged through the contents again, realizing it was all from the years 1914 to 1919. The time of World War One and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic.Then I spied my Great Uncle Earl’s journal. As a child, I remembered seeing Earl’s gravestone at Cheney Cemetery. Throughout my life my grandparents said little about the past, so all I knew of Earl was that my father had been named after him. I never understood when my Grandad Arthur once said of his older brother, “Earl was something more.”Through Earl’s journals, I got to know him. His words describe his life of subsistence farming while operating oil leases, just as his family had for generations. He was also a gifted piano and trombone player. His musical brilliance had been nurtured by his musically inclined mother. His words also tell of a romance, hidden by time and now exposed after more than a century.Earl’s journals, along with the hundreds of other articles in the box, and what Craig had brought, were a window in time. I read on, becoming acquainted with the other family members of that era and the tribulations they faced in their time in history.The information unveiled sparsely known local and national historic events, along with world issues dealing with the war and the pandemic.Firsthand accounts of the home front filled page after page, along with letters from the western front of the Great War, and descriptions of the devastating consequences of the Spanish Influenza. There were pictures and letters about the US 13th Cavalry.The sparsely talked about oil business of that age is also chronicled in the words of laughter, love, and sorrow of a family of seven. How miraculous it was that this box had survived for so many years.World War One and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic are two events that have been well-documented—but rarely portrayed together. Yet, they happened simultaneously in 1918. The people of that era endured hardship and loss. From the ashes, many picked up their lives and sought hope and happiness anew. This is but one of the countless stories from such a tragic chapter in history.Written in story form, fiction surrounds the actual events. It is used to personalize the individuals, add depth, and recreate the emotional impact of living in such a pivotal time.