Author Naomi Yaeger will return to Murray County in August as part of her southwest Minnesota book tour featuring Blooming Hollyhocks: Tales of Joy During Hard Times, the true story of her mother, Janette Minehart Yaeger, growing up in southwest Minnesota during the Great Depression and World War II home front years. The book is based on family stories, interviews, and historical research that bring to life the people and communities that shaped an earlier generation.
Her author presentations focus on her mother’s life in southwest Minnesota and will capture the era through readings, historic photographs, trivia questions, banjo music by Terry Larson, audience participation, and corn husk doll making (program content varies by venue).
Yaeger’s family has deep roots in Murray County. Her parents, the late Earl C. Yaeger and the late Janette Minehart Yaeger, were graduates of Slayton High School. All four of her grandparents—Ernest and Edith Yaeger and Russell and Winifred Minehart—were active members of Slayton Methodist Church. The Yaegers farmed northwest of Slayton, while the Mineharts owned Minehart Hardware until the fire of 1952. Russell Minehart also served as Avoca’s train depot agent.
Naomi will be at the Murray County Fair with an author booth from Wednesday, August 12 – Saturday, August 15.
She will also be offering presentations of Saddlebag Sermons: The Horseback Preachers Who Built the Prairie Churches Discover the remarkable ministers who rode horseback across the frontier to bring worship, weddings, funerals, and hope to early prairie communities. Sunday, August 16
9 am – Lake Wilson United Methodist Church 10:30am – Slayton United Methodist Church Monday, August 17
10am to 12pm - Slayton Public Library
