SOUTH FORK— The South Fork Writers Group includes more than a dozen locals sharing stories about their town, their families and their heritage. Under the guidance of published author and editor South Fork Chapel Pastor Larry Toller, the writing group is working on individual projects while collaborating to publish details about Logger Days before the 2019 edition of the event.
Toller turns up the heat and makes coffee at the Chapel for group members learning about genealogy research while writing their own stories. The pastor’s office is crowded with stacks of his own publications. Subjects range from a biblical study series to three books about Abraham Lincoln and “My Story, Your Story, His Story, a memory Journal.”
Toller’s motivation for running the South Fork Writers Group is the gist of “My Story, Your Story, His Story, a memory Journal.” The book provides a faith-based storytelling framework for recalling the past. During the group’s meeting on Jan. 16, the pastor repeated the philosophy that each individual affects at least five subsequent generations. Recording family histories extends this generation-hop to a half dozen and more.
More important, the simple act of interviewing family members strengthens the families who go through the process, according to Toller. When people record memories no Google search will ever find, they deepen connections with their details.
For the group members who are writing their own stories, Toller promised genealogy training during the next meeting. Writers shared information about online archive and storage facilities they use for tracking and publishing their stories. Their next meeting will include more instruction and, considering the Logger Days project, more momentum to meet this summer’s deadline.
Throughout the meeting, group members shared more than a dozen names of local residents who can probably tell fantastic stories about Logger Days from the past. After all, capturing the history and heritage of South Fork is the whole point behind the Logger Days celebration.
The Logger Days document project reflects today’s do-it-yourself civic funding philosophy prevalent in South Fork. All proceeds from sales of the book will go directly into the Logger Days event funding pot for the future. Like the Friends of South Fork organization, Toller’s writers are residents who devote time, talent and money from their own pockets to boost the community.
Spruce Lodge co-owner Dee Chapman Plucinski is one among many diverse members under Toller’s tutelage. Plucinski published “Seeking String” in 2018, a young-reader story set near Del Norte. Her writing style and direction are as varied as the group membership itself.
Writers curious about joining the group and residents with Logger Days tales to tell should contact Toller at the South Fork Chapel to contribute in one way or another. Videotaping interviews will ensure accuracy and generate footage for the future while adding to the archive of information about the timber-honoring celebration.
Discussions about Loggers Day during Toller’s meeting twisted and turned to tales of the 10th Mountain Division and other tangent topics. That’s what happens when people share stories, and somehow they all become connected eventually.