Retrospect
or Growing up in Blacksburg and Other Tales through a Long Life
by Ellison Smyth

• Pastor Ellison Smyth (beloved former pastor of the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church, Blacksburg, Virginia) has put together a collection of 'wry observations' on his life, his experiences growing up in a small southern college town, his seminary education in Scotland, his time in Canada as a fledgling Presbyterian minister, then later in Virginia during the racial turmoil following World War II. Written at the Writers Workshop at Warm Hearth Retirement Community in Blacksburg, Virginia, under the guidance of Nikki Giovanni, these essays are warm-hearted, humorous, insightful, and full of historical tidbits.

• Excerpt:
  “It was not with that raucous, deafening B-r-r-r-r-bang-bang that scares the liver-lites out of an ordinary mortal, but a sedate put-put-put, as Professor Holdaway proceeded down Faculty Row on his ancient model motorcycle. He had recently arrived from New Zealand, with his Canadian bride, to take charge of the VPI dairy herd, serve as an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, and serve as treasurer and Sunday School teacher. And there he was, with apologies to no one, riding in public view on one of those new-fangled motor-propelled cycles.” -- Page 57

• Cover illustration by Victoria Jordan Stone.

• ISBN 0-936015-22-5
  • vi + 199 pages, 5 1/2 inches x 8 1/2 inches, paperback
  • $9.50 plus shipping, per copy
    • US shipping and handling - $5.00, add $.50 for each additional book
    • International shipping and handling - $15.00 for Priority Mail International