Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

Charles Bender and his wife, Marie, did not have children. So there are no direct descendents. Bender did, however, have ten brothers and sisters who lived past infancy and during the research process I contacted as many sibling descendents as I could find. Funny, but since the book was published they have — I am pleased so say — started to find me. I noted David Bender’s gracious message the other day. I have since heard from Sherry Lewis (Bender), who added a comment at Locally Grown that made me smile:

I’ve been waiting for this book on Charles Albert Bender when I saw that it was in the making about a year ago. Doing a little Internet search tonight I was very glad to see that it’s finished.

My father, Charles Roosevelt Bender, used to tell me that this famous baseball player was our relative and spoke very proudly. I thought he was kidding but several times in his life he told me about our “relative” and said that he wasn’t kidding and I should pay attention.

About 18 years ago I saw a picture of Charles Albert Bender. I just stared — same face, build, nose, ears, everything like my father. Could have been a twin. At that moment I knew that he wasn’t kidding, but I never got a chance to tell him since he’d died a few years prior. He would have loved the pictures that are now so available on the Web. Seems that C.A. Bender was quiet, slow to anger and thoughtfully spoke as well, like my father.

So your book is going to be a treasure to our family. I’m getting three copies tomorrow, two of which will go to my grown-up kids. Thanks for having the talent and taking the time to write this book.

Thank you for sharing, Sherry. Means so much to me to know the book matters that much to you.

This post was added on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 by Tom Swift at 01:26 and is filed under Albert, Reading Material.