Description
MY BROTHER JON subtitled “Outdoor Memories in Wisconsin” is a memoir dedicated to Helgeland’s late brother Jon and to his late parents Adolf (Duffy) and Gladys Helgeland.
The author noted, “When things happened, Jon always seemed to be in the middle of it. He did a lot of outdoor living … in a short time. He died in 1968 in a single-car accident when returning home from a going-away party for a high school classmate.”
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There are 89 stories in this memoir. Most are about the author’s brother Jon — in Chapters 1 and 2 particularly, but other mentions are scattered through other chapters.
Four generations of Helgelands lived on this farm. The book has stories about three of them; 1) the author’s parents, in a chapter titled “Dad and Mom”, 2) Glenn (the author)/ Jon/Lee, their sons, and 3) the author’s wife Judy’s and Glenn’s kids (Jody, Bryant, Amanda).
The content of this book covers a time roughly from the late 1920s through the 2010s … three generations of Helgelands. You are offered here a wide range of stories, topics and times.
The author’s and Judy’s kids never lived on this farm, but his great-grandparents did. They were born in Norway; the author’s great-grandfather in 1843, exactly 100 years before the author was born. Both great-grandparents died long before the author was born.
Chapters are grouped topically, because each chapter was an important aspect of the author and his brothers growing up how and where they did. As he noted, “We wouldn’t have been able to remember them chronologically, because so many of them overlapped.”
He added, “The stories in Chapter 8 were fun to write but didn’t fit anywhere else. They were lumped together at the end of the book and the chapter given an appropriate name – “Crazy Stuff.”
The author notes that “The book doesn’t need to be read all at once, and it doesn’t need to be read from beginning to end. Open it anywhere and read a story. Each individual story is complete, with a beginning, a middle and an end. All are easy and fun to read.”
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The entire content of this book is a dedication from the author and his brother Lee.
It also is meant to be a fond look back at a wonderful time and place for three outdoor-oriented brothers to grow up. They lived on a farm in northwestern Wisconsin, with a mother and father who loved them, tolerated them, taught them, traveled with them, exposed them to the world and laughed with them.
“We had a host of dogs who were a joy to have around (and some to hunt with). We had a trout stream on our farm and lakes all over that part of the state,”, the author notes.
“We enjoyed growing up together – life, sports, school, hunting and fishing. Our parents had great senses of humor. They taught us to enjoy all life had to offer. We knew they had great hopes and expectations for us, without ever saying a word about it. We simply knew.”
Bill Stokes –
If you should happen to have experienced Wisconsin farm boy life at its rowdiest, most unpredictable nature, aged like good
wine and smothered in a rich gravy of family love, you will want to read Glenn’s “My Brother Jon” book so you can do it all over again. If you haven’t been back there before, open the pages and go there now. It is/was a wonderful mid-century place and you will come away culturally enriched. A professional writer, editor and publisher, Glenn hangs his titles on a hook and invites the reader to join him in a rollicking skip, hop and jump down the cow paths and deer trails of young and old lives well lived, including details of the premature end of one of those lives.
As a reader of Glenn’s work, I have something of a leg up in that I was the first grandchild born into the Helgeland clan and therefore I presented a practice model for Glenn’s father Duffy prior to him and Gladys producing their own Glenn, Jon and Lee companion trio. I could write my own book of memorable Uncle Duffy stories, but as a first son, Glenn does it with more accuracy and inside detail than I could ever manage. I do, however, have a vivid memory of the fishpoles falling off the side of Uncle Duffy’s old V-8 and smashing into little splintered pieces when we were on the way to Silver Lake. It was all fixed with a stop at the hardware store for new fishpoles — an Uncle Duffy miracle at the time.
Glenn has made the most of a rich store of that kind of material in his unpredictable drive down his farm boy memory road. Join him… and rest assured that the fishpoles are tied on tight.
Bill Stokes, retired Chicago Tribune columnist
Dan Small –
My Brother Jon is more than a loving tribute to a long-departed younger brother. Helgeland’s reminiscences on the daily life of a young family on a small, northern Wisconsin farm in the 1950s and 60s open a window to a long-gone time in a place that hasn’t changed all that much. Organized thematically rather than chronologically, the book floats from farm chores like milking cows and threshing oats, to hunting and fishing adventures for deer, pheasants, trout, and muskies. We get to
know the three Helgeland brothers and their parents, along with friends, relatives, guides, outfitters, and college roommates. In a hilarious final chapter, appropriately titled “Crazy Stuff,” Helgeland spins a tall tale about a one-horned Norwegian eland, evokes Darwinian natural selection as he imagines how his ancestors coped with poor eyesight and hearing, and catches bullfrogs with a patch of red flannel on a bare hook. My Brother Jon invites us on a nostalgic voyage into Helgeland’s quirky, yet reassuringly familiar past. Enjoy the ride. You may even learn a few things along the way.
Dan Small – Host/Producer of Outdoor Wisconsin and Outdoors Radio
Patrick Durkin –
My Brother Jon isn’t really a book about a young man who died before his time. It’s more about a slice of America’s past that he briefly shared with his hardworking family in northern Wisconsin during the 1900s. As that century starts fading into history, author Glenn Helgeland reminds us how the outdoors provides food, recreation and camaraderie for those who know its secrets and treasures.
Patrick Durkin – Columnist for Wisconsin Outdoor News and freelance outdoor writer
Mark LaBarbera –
Glenn was my first boss after journalism school more than 45 years ago and I did not expect to learn much new from his latest book. Boy, was I wrong! Even if you think you know Glenn Helgeland from his decades of running Deer & Turkey Expos and producing outdoor publications, this book will expand your understanding of Glenn and the meaning of life, both his family’s and yours. As a middle child, I enjoyed the deeper exploration of birth order and family interaction as well as the interesting hunting and fishing tales. I wish I could have shared a campfire, fishing boat or hunting shack with Jon. A great gift, this book will mean as much to our friends and families as it does to us after reading it cover to cover. Good, old-fashioned storytelling and a fun book to read.
Mark LaBarbera – Past President of Outdoor Writers Association of America and Founder of Outdoor Heritage Education Center
Jay Curtes –
In this rich collection of stories and tales, Helgeland draws from his deep roots on a Wisconsin family farm, where the great outdoors beckoned and hunting ruled the day. Glenn’s gift for storytelling is a refreshing departure from his traditional publications and reveals a writing style that ranges from thoughtful poetic prose to side-splitting humor. His ability to recapture the essence of a moment is both nostalgic and timeless.
Jay Curtes – Creative Director at K-Kom Marketing