"Stories Never Told: A Country Girl, a City Boy, and Death in Vietnam" is a young widow's memoir of discovering love and happiness, experiencing her most profound grief, and finding healing moments over time. She was motivated by an ideal of stoic bravery and strengthened by an interior resiliency. The book addresses the struggle to find meaning in the death of a twenty-four-year-old husband, father of two, once alive with hope and endless possibilities. After fifty years of silent grieving, Bonnie Cotton writes for her children and grandchildren, sharing the memories of life with one other person, who is now long dead. These stories are particular to her experience but, unfortunately, are not unique, for widows, parents, children, and friends continue to grieve because of the violence in our schools and streets and the foolishness of war. May those who read, whether family, friends, or strangers, take comfort.
Bonnie writes: There is comfort in having been loved by him-"a bloom of humanity plucked from life-unique and irreplaceable" (words from Bill Chandler's Memorial Service, August 24, 1972)