Hebert, Buck sisters will speak Thursday at library
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008 11:55 AM CST
For the Herald
With superhuman strength he pulled himself back from the edge of the old open well, as clumps of dirt fell into the water far below. Eyes wide with fear, his two little sisters came to stand over him. “Maybe this is where Mama and Daddy are going to throw us when they kill us.”
Thus begins Beyond the Open Well, the true story of the lives of sisters Joyce Buck West and Jane Buck McDaniel of Cornell. In the book, the sisters talk about a subject that is too often kept secret. Six decades after suffering horrendous abuse at the hands of their adoptive parents, the ordeal still influences their lives.
Before the Buck family of Cornell adopted the sisters, they lived with their biological parents Esther and Hale Colburn and their brother Alan on a farm near Turtle Lake.
As a fellow student at Cornell High School, author Jean Hebert had no idea of the torment the Buck sisters endured. Years later, Joyce and Jane asked Jean to write their story. During the three and one-half years it took Hebert to finish the manuscript, she and the sisters talked, laughed, cried and thanked God for their will to survive.
Jane and Joyce hope that by telling their story they may encourage others live a prosperous life.
Hebert will sell and autograph copies of the book from 1 to 3 p.m., on Thursday, Dec. 11 at the Chippewa Falls Public Library, 105 W. Central St., Chippewa Falls. Joyce and Jean plan to attend the event to speak with those present.
A percentage of Hebert’s proceeds from the sale of Beyond the Open Well are slated for the Sloane J. Brehmer Endowment fund, a component of the Community Foundation of Chippewa County. The fund is earmarked to benefit children and keep alive the memory of Hebert’s 15-month-old granddaughter who passed away last September.
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