Three Generations of Pioneer Women

About the Book

Leaving a college campus, mother, friends, lace dresses and beloved books, Barbara Westphal encounters a culture she doesn't understand, a language she doesn't speak, and a devoted husband who journeys for weeks into the innermost regions of Peru.

Its seven years before she can visit home again. On the ship home, their longed for baby boy succumbs to an unknown illness. This is the life she and her new husband, Henry, embark on as they carry on the tradition of his family as missionaries.

How does she cope through those years? What sustains her soul? A woman of courage, depth, humor, and elegance, she is sustained by her faith in God, the love of her husband, and the letters she writes home. Letters colored with adventure, experiences, and a taste of culture, with never a hint of discouragement, although loneliness and heartache must have nipped at her heart.

In the pages of this book-through these letters to her mother-you are invited to relive again the stories of yesteryear, of missionaries, of humor and grief, in the far away land of South America.

With romance and adventure, three generations of women tell their stories. These women were ahead of their times in attitudes and culture. Here are the stories--spanning parts of three centuries-of Barbara, her mother Jessie, to whom the letters were written, and her daughter, Halcyon, the author of this book.

This is a tribute to women everywhere whose courage and fortitude carve identity and meaning for not only themselves and their daughters, but for all women who pioneer unknown pathways.

About the Author

As she looks back on her life, Halcycon remembers with humor and lover her mother and grandmother. She is amazed and humbled at the sacrifices, the courage, spirit of adventure and commitment displayed by these women. In this book, she relives afresh the pathos and huomr on the letters, along with the early memories of her childhood in South America. Halcyon asks herself, "Was the sacrifice worth the dedication? Even though my mother, as a young bride in a foreign land, must have been lonely, sad, and homesick at times, she never let us know. I don't think she ever questioned her purpose in life."

The influence of her mother and grandmother lingered as Halcyon grew into a woman of compassion, insight, and courage. She holds a master's degree in family life education. Her work as an educator, counselor, pastor, administrative advisor, wife, mother, grandmother and recently a great-grandmother, has interwoven into the spiritual, gracious and loving person she is to her family, students, and friends. One described Halcyon as "a rock in the time of trouble for so many people."

An accomplished author, she has written many published articles. Countless have been truly blessed who have attended seminars she has taught, some with her husband, Leland, a chemistry professor. It is hoped this blessing will be extended to you as you shere her memories, her heart and live the adventures in the pages.

Hallie, as she is known to her friends, shares a home in Riverside, California, with her husband, Lee, and her cat, Huhu, which means trouble in Hawaiian.