As Dede Montgomery moves through grief to accept of the death of her father, the stories in My Music Man shed light on change, acceptance, and forgiveness amid close personal relationships and Oregon's natural landscapes. Dede's deep connection to the Willamette Valley is evidenced by the stories she weaves into her writing from seven generations of her family including Salem's first "power couple" (Chloe Clark and William Willson), book publisher J.K. Gill, steamship engineer Sam Gill, author Richard Gill Montgomery, Sr. (The White Headed Eagle), and Dick Montgomery, maritime writer and historian. The reader is catapulted into autumn on the Willamette's riverbank in the 1960s with the author and her brothers, where they discover their father's own childhood stories and the intimate relationship he shares with the land. Tales about generations of family weave between time periods, held together by the constancy of place. This book is to be savored. Yet it's much more than a memoir-it's a multi-generational story, lovingly told, of a family deeply tied to Oregon's history. Additional written information such as photographs, family tree, and references may be found on the author's website.
