“In The Gift of Laughter , you will find one family’s story of deep trauma—and the resilience born out of an ability to laugh together. . . . Laughter was their gift to each other, their story a gift to others.”
–Hope Nisly , Acquisitions Librarian for Fresno Pacific University
“Loretta Willems has a fascinating family history and writes of it with lovely detail, honest reflection and great beauty.”
–Dora Dueck, award-winning author of Return Stroke: Essays and Memoir , and four books of fiction
Agnes Young was fourteen in 1936 when she eloped with twenty-one year old Jacob Willems and joined him on his vagabond life, traveling California’s country roads, picking up work wherever they could find it. Two years later she gave birth to her first child. Agnes was only sixteen when she became a mother; yet she managed to create a stable home for family, a home that felt secure and safe.
Waldheim, Saskatchewan 1909
My grandparents, Jacob and Helena, were step-brother and step-sister in a marriage the family said was arranged by the Mennonite Brethren Church.
lwillemsmennostory.blogspot.com
Heritage 