Birthday Wishes for Beryl Singleton Bissell

Today October 10, is Beryl Singleton Bissell's birthday,  as the custom goes, Beryl has prepared a little celebration of her life for us to share on her birthday with her.  Here is her story. 

When I joined Gather two years ago, a few days before my birthday 66th birthday, I had no idea that I was giving myself a treat that would allow me to connect from the small-town of Schroeder on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior to the wide world of Gather and thus meet a continually expanding group of wonderful new friends

I like to accomplish feats like this, which is perhaps the reason why I’ve packed as many lives as I could into this one, surprising myself that one who entered a monastery thinking never to marry should have married three times, been widowed once, divorced once, and then remarried most happily for the past 11 years. I’m a mother of two children -- my beautiful deceased daughter Francesca who will forever remain 24 years old, a son Thomas who is now 31, and three beloved step daughters, who combined have made me grandmommy to eight little ones.

While a nun, I worked as a farmer, cook, nurse, sacristan, altar bread baker, and of course as pray-er (Gang Beryl will have to clarify this one because it came out all garbled in the email).  I have been a picker in a distribution center, a set designer, jewelry designer, business owner, office manager, associate development and marketing director of a literary press and have for the past 10 years been a columnist, a feature writer for various regional magazines, and last year became an author when my memoir The Scent of God (http://www.berylsingletonbissell.com) was published in hardcover by Counterpoint Press NY, and in paperback this April.

When I was ten I dreamt of emulating the heroine of the comic strip Brenda Starr: Reporter but my aspirations were never encouraged. When I was in my mid-50s a return to college and an insightful professor turned me from business to literature and I embarked on the journey that now allows me to dare call myself a writer.

I am a hermit by nature, gregarious by calling, and feel more at home in remote places than surrounded by buildings " not at all like my stepdaughter who on moving to New Hampshire called to lament that I miss cement!” My favorite hobbies are reading and watching great movies, hiking, snowshoeing and canoeing. I can be a political junkie concerning social issues; especially those involving the poor, children, and the environment because I believe we need to be the voice for those who have no voice.

My favorite birthday memory is of the table prepared by my daughter Francesca when she was 10 with tiny vases and thimbles filled with blossoms at every place setting “because I love you Mommy.”

Should you feel like checking out my Gather posts I have created a Map to my Posts ( http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976903575) which lists all my Gather articles according to theme so you can choose for yourselves.

I love music but am a total mess-up when it comes to having favorite songs so I hope you will forgive my choice of The Teddy Bears Picnic for which I have no excuse save that on occasion my subconscious leaps to the fore to embarrass me.

Happy birthday Beryl. from all your friends at gather, we hope we have made your day a memorial one.

Note to the birthday club members.  If you have not yet submitted your birthday dates to me please to so.  I need to prepare well enough in advance. Furthemore, when I send you the questions to do your celebration I need to have them back, at least one day prior to your birthday.

Carol Roach: winterose.gather.com

The birthday Club: