I started this website in 2014 to publish the preliminary pieces I was writing for the first book of a family heritage trilogy I wanted to create. That book, The Gift of Laughter, came out in 2016; the second book, Child Bride, in 2019; and third book, A Sense of Presiding Goodness; came out this spring (2024). All of them are now available on Amazon. Photos of the covers are posted below, with links to my page on Amazon. Clicking on a link will not require you to purchase it, but the site will allow you to see the back cover and read the first chapter of the book—a very neat feature.
Blog/Journal: I will keep writing on this website–reflections on life from the perspective of one who has now lived a very long time. Links to recent posts can be found below the list of my books. I will be posting monthly.
Follow: At the very bottom of this page, below the photos, is a place where you may subscribe to this site if you so choose.
New Book!
Book 3: A Sense of Presiding Goodness
In 1955, seventeen-year-old Loretta Willems flew to Japan to marry a nineteen-year-old boy she had only known three weeks before he left for a two-year tour of duty with the Air Force. She had just graduated from high school, and she felt her decision was both mature and practical. To her, marriage, children and a home of her own were what life was all about, and she did not want to lose out on the opportunity the boy’s proposal presented. She was on the threshold of adult life and eager to get started.
The marriage story is not the only one this book tells. Behind and around it is another story, one that provides the context for that young marriage, a story of wrestling with a religious heritage that carried both blessing and curse.
“Loretta Willems has a fascinating family history and writes of it with lovely detail, honest reflection, and compelling beauty.” Dora Dueck, award-winning author of Return Stroke: Essays & Memoir, and four books of fiction
Book 2: Child Bride: Remembering a Young Mother
At fourteen, Agnes Young married Jacob Willems and began a nomadic life in 1936 California. Despite frequent moves and tough work harvesting and pruning fruit, Agnes created a stable home for her family during WWII. Richly illustrated with wonderful old photos, author Loretta Willems reflects on her mother’s influence and their life together in the first book of her family history memoirs.
Book 1: The Gift of Laughter: The Story of a California Mennonite Family
The first book in the series, The Gift of Laughter, begins the saga. It traces the Willems family’s journey from WWII California back to Holland, Russia, Minnesota, and Canada. Despite hardships, and the struggle to survive, Jacob and Lena Willems filled their home with joy and laughter. Loretta Willems’ memoir preserves these stories and explores the heart of their marriage.
Blog/Journal
Read what’s new
The View from my Window
This photo was taken in February of last year. The rain had stopped, and a shaft of light was illuminating the landscape. It looked like a delicate watercolor painting, and I wanted to capture and preserve that moment. I have no regular camera, but there is a camera function on my Kindle Fire and I…
Ordinary Life
Ever since I was a child, I have wanted to live an ordinary, private life, a life like the one I was living in my family’s house in Stockton, California. I had no desire to be a movie star or be famous. I liked my small world, not just my neighborhood, my friends and cousins…
A Room with a View
It is February. There is snow on the ground here in Bellingham. Good writing weather. So what do I want to write? Not another book, that’s for sure. That part of my writing life is over. What I want now is to reflect on my life and on life in general. Short pieces, the kind…
Heritage 