Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Friday, July 06, 2007
Childhood tales come alive in book by former principal
A 13-year-old Jay Thurston and his buddies were drawn to a fishing hole surrounded by beautiful cedar trees in Pardeeville, Wis.
They’d sneak to the secret locale on the community’s lower east side, traversing a swampy area and cutting across private property.
That was until an old-timer cut their excursions short by warning of the Swamp Wampus.
“A fellow saw us and said, ‘You can’t go down there,’” said Thurston, now 74. “He said, ‘The Swamp Wampus will get you.’”
Now, a Swamp Wampus wasn’t enough to strike fear in adolescent boys. Learning it was possible to sink in the swamp’s moist ground, however, was.
Regardless of the creature’s legitimacy, Thurston retold tales of the Swamp Wampus hundreds — and hundreds — of times during his 35-year career in education.
And, over time, the stories and characters grew and developed into favorites of children from Aurora, Ill., to La Crosse.
In March, Thurston published a collection of his stories in “Out of the Rainbow.”
“I knew from the interest of the children in those stories that someday I would need to write this book,” Thurston said.
Thurston began penning his book while principal at State Road School in the late 1970s but sidelined the project to gain writing experience.
After retiring from Hamilton Elementary School in 1995, Thurston was able to write on a regular basis and began to see improvements in his stories.
“Following in the Footsteps of Ernest Hemingway and 59 Additional Trout Fishing Stories” and “The Wild Flower” were published, and Thurston finally felt ready to tackle the Wampus.
“The more practice you get at writing, basketball, tennis, whatever, the better you become at it,” Thurston said.
“Out of the Rainbow” offers fun stories that can teach good social values, including conservation and sharing, Thurston said. Waller Wampus, a spin-off of the Swamp Wampus, makes appearances throughout the book, offering lessons of friendship and kindness.
Thurston said Waller Wampus tells the children in his book “Happiness is all I have to give.”
“That’s something I want children to take on the playground with them every day,” he said.
While the book is for sale at Barnes & Noble bookstores, amazon.com and Bramble Books in Viroqua, Thurston and his wife, Diana, have an alternative selling method as well: a stand at the Viroqua Farmers Market on Saturdays.
“It’s a great market for my book,” Thurston said. “People come back and talk fishing and ‘Out of the Rainbow.’”
Thurston returned to the Coulee Region in 2004, settling in Viroqua.
He plans to write two more books to complement “Out of the Rainbow.”
Autumn Grooms can be reached at (608) 791-8424 or agrooms@lacrossetribune.com
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