Pub. 60 2019-2020 Issue 2

the grandparents whose love is leg- endary. Laughter and tears abound when Walt’s vocal, cranky and ail- ing mother, Itasca ( Cloris Leachman ) appears in Fireside unexpectedly. These compelling characters and their hilarious escapades, along with a top hits soundtrack, make When We Last Spoke a timeless movie for all ages that digs in deep to things that matter most: family, friends, love and forgiveness. Director/Screenwriter Joanne Hock sa id, “When I f i rst read Ma rc i Henna’s book, the stor y jumped off the page. As a fan of Southern literature, I was thrilled when asked to co-write the screenplay and direct the f ilm. The characters from her book were rich, and the story was so visual that it just naturally translated to the screen. This film is an homage to childhood and the innocence of the 1960’s — with the music, cloth- ing, dialogue, and characters from a bygone and perhaps simpler era.” Marci’s personal experiences grow- ing up with her sister on her parents’ ranch in the Texas Hill Country are ref lected in her Fireside book series. She and her sister grew up just down the road from their grandparents’ home and spent a great deal of time with them. Her essay, What True Grit Really Means, is a beauti- ful, poignant narrative of the time she and her sister spent as children with their grandparents who had “learned how to survive during the Great Depression without gloves, and lived to tell the tale.” When her grandfather needed par ts to repair the tractor, he made do with recycled washers, nuts and bolts from previous farm equipment that were stored carefully in Folger’s cof- fee cans in his workshop. Inside the house, soap ends were melted and made into new bars, and tin foil was washed and reused. Marci details her memories of the wonderful ‘noonday meal’ prepared by her grandmother, complete with fried chicken, but- ternut squash, blue-ribbon beefsteak tomatoes, golden westerner cake or pecan icebox cookies covered in peach slices, all accompanied by Paul Harvey’s voice on the radio telling them, “The Rest of the Story.” She fondly describes her love for their “crusty” grandfather: “A crust always supports a sweet peach pie to keep its f illing in place. This is what I know — beneath that tough exterior was a man with a soft underbelly.” What Lies Ahead, the second book in Marci’s Fireside series, is now available, with the third in the tril- ogy coming soon. The movie adap- tation of When We Last Spoke was an official selection of the Heartland International Film Festival in Octo- ber. It screened at the Austin Film Festival on Oct. 27 and was subse- quently awarded the coveted “Texas Independents Audience Award” by film attendees. It will be exciting to see what is next for Marci Henna!  PEED TTENTION ATIGUE MOTION DRIVE Ward’s 50®Top Performer | A.M. Best®A+ (Superior) Rating Federated Mutual Insurance Company and its subsidiaries* 19.02 Ed. 11/18 *Not licensed in all states. © 2018 Federated Mutual Insurance Company JUST DRIVE. Scan the code or visit federatedinsurance.comfor online tools and resources. Please make it home safe today. Your poor driving decisions could keep you and your employees from making it home S.A.F.E. today.