The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life (39 page)

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Authors: Rod Dreher

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Women, #General

BOOK: The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life
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Ray “Paw” Dreher and Dorothy “Mam” Dreher, on their back porch.

John Bickham, a surrogate son for Paw.

Ronnie Morgan

Abby Temple Cochran and Ruthie.

Dr. Tim Lindsey, at Ruthie’s kitchen table.

The Leming family:
(left to right)
Claire, Mike, Rebecca, Ruthie, and Hannah. This photo was taken days after Ruthie’s diagnosis. The family wanted to have a portrait taken before Ruthie’s appearance changed because of chemotherapy and radiation.
Courtesy of Jeannie Frey Rhodes

Three generations of West Feliciana homecoming queens: Mam, Ruthie, and Hannah.

Ruthie and daughter Claire in the hospital after her diagnostic surgery; February 2010.

The author and his sister, Ruthie.

Mike on the day Ruthie’s tombstone was delivered to Starhill Cemetery; May 15, 2012.

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Contents

Welcome

Dedication

Epigraph

One: Country Mouse, City Mouse

Two: “Forever and a Day”

Three: A Family of Her Own

Four: Sweet Babies

Five: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost

Six: The Peppers

Seven: The Bright Sadness

Eight: Standing in the Spirit of God

Nine: Expecting a Miracle

Ten: “I’m Scared”

Eleven: “The Choir Invisible”

Twelve: Lean on Me

Thirteen: The Narrow Path

Fourteen: One’s Destination Is Never a Place

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Photos

Newsletters

Copyright

Copyright

Copyright © 2013 by Rod Dreher

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

Grand Central Publishing

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

www.hachettebookgroup.com

www.twitter.com/grandcentralpub

First e-book edition: April 2013

Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The Grand Central Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to
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or call (866) 376-6591.

Lines from Charles Péguy’s poem The Portal of the Mystery of Hope come from a 1996 translation from the original French by David L. Schindler Jr. and are used with the permission of William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

All photographs are courtesy of the Dreher family, unless noted otherwise.

ISBN 978-1-4555-2190-6

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