December 12, 2025 • 12 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Of course if future here in the fifty five Kersey
(00:01):
Morning Show from time to time local authors. I think
it's really cool. Do we have local authors. They prove that, yes,
you can write a book, you can get a book published.
And one of the women who's going to explain how
that is done in her impetus behind writing and getting
involved in writing, Beverly park Williams. It's Beverly. It's a
pleasure to have you on the program today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Oh, it's my pleasure. I appreciate you forwarding me a
copy of the book. I will admit upfront, I'm not
going to lie to you. I haven't had an opportunity
to read it yet. I note that the book Parallel
But and Separate. This is the name of your second book,
Parallel and Separate, A Tale of Two Sisters. Does this
book number two involve the same subject matter as your
first book, Separate but Parallel?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, Actually the story both stories are about two sisters,
Janet and Shirley. The first book is really about Turley,
who is my mother. After I've moved her into a
nursing home in Anderson Township, I spent a lot of
time with her, and she began to tell me many
(01:06):
stories for life. And the stories became so numerous. I
purchased a handheld recorder and after more than two years
of recording, I transcribed almost three hundred pages of notes,
and that became the first book.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, and that's I guess primarily one of the reasons
I asked, this is not a short book. It's your
your separate book we're talking about today, parallel and separate.
It comes in at four hundred and fifty pages. This
is I guess, the story of Shirley and jen At
her sister. Shirley, you said already is your mom. They
were separated very close to birth. I guess your Your
(01:47):
mother was a newborn and your aunt was three years
old when they separated. But they both lived in the
greater Cincinnati area, yet had no idea of each other's existence.
As I understand, it is that accurate.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yes, their families, both the father for Janet and the
mother for Shirley, kept it a secrets. So they were
separated not knowing about one another, to be reunited seventy
years later, seven decades later.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That is truly amazing. Now, they grew up differently. Not
only were they separated. Not only did they not know
each other and they grew up on opposite sides of
the town, they also were quite different in the socioeconomic upbringing.
Were they not?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yes, they were. Actually Janet was kept by her father
and her father's parents, and they lived a fairly middle
class life on the west side. When the grandfather separated
the two sisters, he thought that my mother would go
with their mother and live with their mother's relative. Fortunately,
(03:01):
their mother had been adopted by an elderly couple in
Hyde Park, and both the couple, the grandmother and the grandfather,
were in nursing home, So Shirley and her mother were
pretty much left to fend for themselves on the East side,
and Shirley grew up in poverty.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Oh so, I guess I'm wildly curious. Since they were
sisters obviously genetically linked, did they sort of I hate
these words, turn out after seventy years of life. Were
they different people? Different political philosophies obviously, maybe different socioeconomy,
because that depends on what they ended up doing for
(03:43):
a living. But personality wise, was there a consistency or
were they dramatically different people? Having lived these separate lives
when they finally met each other.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, that's a great question because they were very different
because of growing up on the West Side. Her family
was Catholic, of course, and sent Janet to Catholic girls' school.
My mother and her mother were Protestant, and as they
(04:15):
came to know one another seventy years later, they realized
that they had very different political views.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Well, that's kind of the point I was coming I
was going to come to. I'm glad you brought it
up yourself, because I'm going to pry into politics of it.
So different religious philosophy and then different political philosophies. So
I presume one Democrat one Republican was as simple as
boiling it down to that. Was there something beyond that?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Now's that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
East Side was Republican, right, Yes, just like the West Side.
You cander us expect it's going to be from a
Catholic family. Having grown up in del High I'm hip
to that. Beverly, there were two children in my mom
and dad's family, and there were mostly five and six
children in the balance of the neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
FA.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'll let you do the math on who was Catholic
and who wasn't. So why will my listeners Beverly Williams,
author of the book Parallel and Separate, a tale of
two sisters, Why will my listeners find your family history
and the lives of your mother and her sister growing
up severally a fascinating story worthy of reading?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Beverly, The reason is truly the setting of Cincinnati. In
book one for my mother and in book two for
my aunt Janet, they bring to the book memories from
both the West Side and the East Side, and I
(05:40):
think people, particularly in the local area can relate to
those memories as well as the incredible part of their
memories also of downtown Landmark. So you have to wonder
did they see each other on Fountain Square? Did they
me one another on a bus and not know that
(06:02):
they were books? And their grandfather and their father were
the groundskeepers at Coney Island, So Coney Island is a
is somewhat of a focus of both books. Now, in
book two, I had the time. My mother had passed,
(06:23):
so I had the time to do research on where
did their father's ancestors come from and where did their
mother's ancestors come from? And I add that detail in
book two wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So the very interesting and quite unusual story of them
being separated at such a young agent growing up in
the same town. But you know, not knowing each other
is a vehicle to bring in all of this you know,
relevant Cincinnati area history, I suppose is how you boil
that down?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Exactly, great, well local historians and uh, I guess maybe
Peter Bronson should read a copy of this, since he
writes local history. Relieved by the way, Peter Bronson's new
book was great. I finished it the other day. You'll
love it anyhow, So I want to ask you, Beverly,
what was and and maybe you mentioned it before, and
I'm sorry I didn't process it, but I'm curious to
(07:18):
know why the Shirley and Janet didn't know each other,
Why they kept this sort of a family secret, that
that that you know, they had a y had a
sibling living across town. What happened to prevent you your
mom and her sister from knowing about each other.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
They believed it was somewhat of a shameful issue that
the grandfather had separated the two sisters, especially not allowing
them to get to know one another, not allowing them
the same privileges in life? So what is what is
(07:57):
the reason betid my title? Both sisters grew up obviously
separate from one another, but as they become young working
women and then wives, and then mothers, and even grandmothers
and then widows. During the time that they became reunited,
they realized that truly they were they had lives more
(08:21):
in parallel to one another than they initially believed.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
How much time are they able to spend each other?
Did they create a friendship or a strong relationship after
meeting after seventy years? And how long were they around
if they did, in fact spend any time together? How
long were they around to do that.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
They did when they were both in there obviously their seventies.
They wrote to one another, they sent cards, they talked. Initially,
they tucked on the phone a lot, and had lunches
and dinners and even had a spontaneous crypt of Florida together.
But over time, as they become more and more elderly,
(09:03):
they began to decline in their relationship, and once I
put my mother in a nursing home, their relationship really deteriorated.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I'm sorry to hear that, but at least they got
to spend time together, learn about each other, and you
got this fascinating story that obviously we're compelled to write about.
To the budding authors out there, people who think, oh,
there's no way I'm ever going to get published, can't
do it, how did you manage to is this? These
are the first books you've written?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yes, okay they are.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
That's well, that's an accomplishment and in itself, so what
kind of what recommendation is a local author and is
it obviously a not well published yet anyway would you
give the people who might be inspired to write a book,
or maybe who have been thinking about that, what would
you say to them?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I would say go for it. I would say, if
you have a story that you believe in and can
add to it details and add to it some conversations
and interactions, especially with other people and settings like Cincinnati.
I was fascinated by places in Cincinnati both my mother
(10:13):
and my aunt Janet talked about I never knew of. Yeah,
so I was able to go around this city and say, oh,
I didn't know about that, but what a wonderful area.
My aunt Janet was fascinated with Miami Whitewater Forest. I
had never heard of that. So it was fun doing
the book, doing the research, and suddenly you have pages
(10:37):
and pages of good information to share.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well, that's great, I guess today, Beverly Park, William's local
author Parallel and Separate Book two a tail it two
sisters learn about the Greater Cincinnatier are generally speaking of
this fascinating tale of the women who were separated at
a very young age and lived in the same town.
You didn't even know of each other's existence. Beverly, has
been a sweet opportunity to speak with you this morning,
and I appreciate you writing the book and inspiring other
(11:03):
local authors maybe put pen to paper, as the case
may be, and put their own work together getting it published.
Maybe another thing, How are you able to get your
book published, Beverly Williamsfore we part company.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
So initially with the first book, I went through Amazon
through their publishing operation. With this second book, I actually
used Ingram Spark. And the reason I did is one
of the book stores in Milford said, well, you know
all the bookstores purchase their books through Ingram Spark, who
(11:38):
is the distributor of books. So I said, oh, okay,
So I invented that and published through Ingram Spark and
I have been going around bookstores asking them to please
purchase my book.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Of course, that's how you get it out in the world, Beverly,
and you become a well published author. And I wish
you all the best as you move toward that endeavor,
and I hope people will enjoy the book parallel and
separate to Tel two Sisters. That'd be a book two.
You can read book one as well.
Of course if future here in the fifty five Kersey
(00:01):
Morning Show from time to time local authors. I think
it's really cool. Do we have local authors. They prove that, yes,
you can write a book, you can get a book published.
And one of the women who's going to explain how
that is done in her impetus behind writing and getting
involved in writing, Beverly park Williams. It's Beverly. It's a
pleasure to have you on the program today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Oh, it's my pleasure. I appreciate you forwarding me a
copy of the book. I will admit upfront, I'm not
going to lie to you. I haven't had an opportunity
to read it yet. I note that the book Parallel
But and Separate. This is the name of your second book,
Parallel and Separate, A Tale of Two Sisters. Does this
book number two involve the same subject matter as your
first book, Separate but Parallel?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, Actually the story both stories are about two sisters,
Janet and Shirley. The first book is really about Turley,
who is my mother. After I've moved her into a
nursing home in Anderson Township, I spent a lot of
time with her, and she began to tell me many
(01:06):
stories for life. And the stories became so numerous. I
purchased a handheld recorder and after more than two years
of recording, I transcribed almost three hundred pages of notes,
and that became the first book.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, and that's I guess primarily one of the reasons
I asked, this is not a short book. It's your
your separate book we're talking about today, parallel and separate.
It comes in at four hundred and fifty pages. This
is I guess, the story of Shirley and jen At
her sister. Shirley, you said already is your mom. They
were separated very close to birth. I guess your Your
(01:47):
mother was a newborn and your aunt was three years
old when they separated. But they both lived in the
greater Cincinnati area, yet had no idea of each other's existence.
As I understand, it is that accurate.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yes, their families, both the father for Janet and the
mother for Shirley, kept it a secrets. So they were
separated not knowing about one another, to be reunited seventy
years later, seven decades later.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That is truly amazing. Now, they grew up differently. Not
only were they separated. Not only did they not know
each other and they grew up on opposite sides of
the town, they also were quite different in the socioeconomic upbringing.
Were they not?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yes, they were. Actually Janet was kept by her father
and her father's parents, and they lived a fairly middle
class life on the west side. When the grandfather separated
the two sisters, he thought that my mother would go
with their mother and live with their mother's relative. Fortunately,
(03:01):
their mother had been adopted by an elderly couple in
Hyde Park, and both the couple, the grandmother and the grandfather,
were in nursing home, So Shirley and her mother were
pretty much left to fend for themselves on the East side,
and Shirley grew up in poverty.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Oh so, I guess I'm wildly curious. Since they were
sisters obviously genetically linked, did they sort of I hate
these words, turn out after seventy years of life. Were
they different people? Different political philosophies obviously, maybe different socioeconomy,
because that depends on what they ended up doing for
(03:43):
a living. But personality wise, was there a consistency or
were they dramatically different people? Having lived these separate lives
when they finally met each other.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, that's a great question because they were very different
because of growing up on the West Side. Her family
was Catholic, of course, and sent Janet to Catholic girls' school.
My mother and her mother were Protestant, and as they
(04:15):
came to know one another seventy years later, they realized
that they had very different political views.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Well, that's kind of the point I was coming I
was going to come to. I'm glad you brought it
up yourself, because I'm going to pry into politics of it.
So different religious philosophy and then different political philosophies. So
I presume one Democrat one Republican was as simple as
boiling it down to that. Was there something beyond that?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Now's that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
East Side was Republican, right, Yes, just like the West Side.
You cander us expect it's going to be from a
Catholic family. Having grown up in del High I'm hip
to that. Beverly, there were two children in my mom
and dad's family, and there were mostly five and six
children in the balance of the neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
FA.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'll let you do the math on who was Catholic
and who wasn't. So why will my listeners Beverly Williams,
author of the book Parallel and Separate, a tale of
two sisters, Why will my listeners find your family history
and the lives of your mother and her sister growing
up severally a fascinating story worthy of reading?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Beverly, The reason is truly the setting of Cincinnati. In
book one for my mother and in book two for
my aunt Janet, they bring to the book memories from
both the West Side and the East Side, and I
(05:40):
think people, particularly in the local area can relate to
those memories as well as the incredible part of their
memories also of downtown Landmark. So you have to wonder
did they see each other on Fountain Square? Did they
me one another on a bus and not know that
(06:02):
they were books? And their grandfather and their father were
the groundskeepers at Coney Island, So Coney Island is a
is somewhat of a focus of both books. Now, in
book two, I had the time. My mother had passed,
(06:23):
so I had the time to do research on where
did their father's ancestors come from and where did their
mother's ancestors come from? And I add that detail in
book two wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So the very interesting and quite unusual story of them
being separated at such a young agent growing up in
the same town. But you know, not knowing each other
is a vehicle to bring in all of this you know,
relevant Cincinnati area history, I suppose is how you boil
that down?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Exactly, great, well local historians and uh, I guess maybe
Peter Bronson should read a copy of this, since he
writes local history. Relieved by the way, Peter Bronson's new
book was great. I finished it the other day. You'll
love it anyhow, So I want to ask you, Beverly,
what was and and maybe you mentioned it before, and
I'm sorry I didn't process it, but I'm curious to
(07:18):
know why the Shirley and Janet didn't know each other,
Why they kept this sort of a family secret, that
that that you know, they had a y had a
sibling living across town. What happened to prevent you your
mom and her sister from knowing about each other.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
They believed it was somewhat of a shameful issue that
the grandfather had separated the two sisters, especially not allowing
them to get to know one another, not allowing them
the same privileges in life? So what is what is
(07:57):
the reason betid my title? Both sisters grew up obviously
separate from one another, but as they become young working
women and then wives, and then mothers, and even grandmothers
and then widows. During the time that they became reunited,
they realized that truly they were they had lives more
(08:21):
in parallel to one another than they initially believed.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
How much time are they able to spend each other?
Did they create a friendship or a strong relationship after
meeting after seventy years? And how long were they around
if they did, in fact spend any time together? How
long were they around to do that.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
They did when they were both in there obviously their seventies.
They wrote to one another, they sent cards, they talked. Initially,
they tucked on the phone a lot, and had lunches
and dinners and even had a spontaneous crypt of Florida together.
But over time, as they become more and more elderly,
(09:03):
they began to decline in their relationship, and once I
put my mother in a nursing home, their relationship really deteriorated.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I'm sorry to hear that, but at least they got
to spend time together, learn about each other, and you
got this fascinating story that obviously we're compelled to write about.
To the budding authors out there, people who think, oh,
there's no way I'm ever going to get published, can't
do it, how did you manage to is this? These
are the first books you've written?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yes, okay they are.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
That's well, that's an accomplishment and in itself, so what
kind of what recommendation is a local author and is
it obviously a not well published yet anyway would you
give the people who might be inspired to write a book,
or maybe who have been thinking about that, what would
you say to them?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I would say go for it. I would say, if
you have a story that you believe in and can
add to it details and add to it some conversations
and interactions, especially with other people and settings like Cincinnati.
I was fascinated by places in Cincinnati both my mother
(10:13):
and my aunt Janet talked about I never knew of. Yeah,
so I was able to go around this city and say, oh,
I didn't know about that, but what a wonderful area.
My aunt Janet was fascinated with Miami Whitewater Forest. I
had never heard of that. So it was fun doing
the book, doing the research, and suddenly you have pages
(10:37):
and pages of good information to share.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well, that's great, I guess today, Beverly Park, William's local
author Parallel and Separate Book two a tail it two
sisters learn about the Greater Cincinnatier are generally speaking of
this fascinating tale of the women who were separated at
a very young age and lived in the same town.
You didn't even know of each other's existence. Beverly, has
been a sweet opportunity to speak with you this morning,
and I appreciate you writing the book and inspiring other
(11:03):
local authors maybe put pen to paper, as the case
may be, and put their own work together getting it published.
Maybe another thing, How are you able to get your
book published, Beverly Williamsfore we part company.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
So initially with the first book, I went through Amazon
through their publishing operation. With this second book, I actually
used Ingram Spark. And the reason I did is one
of the book stores in Milford said, well, you know
all the bookstores purchase their books through Ingram Spark, who
(11:38):
is the distributor of books. So I said, oh, okay,
So I invented that and published through Ingram Spark and
I have been going around bookstores asking them to please
purchase my book.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Of course, that's how you get it out in the world, Beverly,
and you become a well published author. And I wish
you all the best as you move toward that endeavor,
and I hope people will enjoy the book parallel and
separate to Tel two Sisters. That'd be a book two.
You can read book one as well.
Brian Thomas News
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