Let Me Tell You a Story
Storytelling has been an art and form of entertainment for many cultures for thousands of years. Every family has their special stories. In this way culture is created and passed down to future generations. The stories in this collection represent five generations of our family. Our family would sit around a dinner table or a campfire and tell and retell these stories from the past. Our family loved the sharing of humor through this special communication. In this way we also shared each other’s lives. My family has asked that I record these so that they will be passed on to future generations so that they might enjoy them as well. All of the stories elicit laughter because of the humor. The stories are organized around themes. The one thing that is constant about the stories is that they are all “true stories”.
Rebecca Jo Slayden-McMahan
Rebecca Jo Slayden-McMahan is a writer and teacher. She had a teaching career in Clarksville, Montgomery County and at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. She was born in 1950 and grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee about fifty miles north of Nashville, Tennessee. Rebecca is of German, English, and Irish lineage. Over the years, she developed a very special appreciation for everyday communication with her immediate family and frequent interactions with extended family. Her family was a large one as her paternal grandfather had thirteen siblings. During dinners, campfires, gatherings and special family events the interactions with family included the telling and retelling of the humorous yet true stories in this book. The stories belong to the family, and it is her desire to pass them down to future generations. In 1968, Rebecca attended Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and Biology in 1971. She earned a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Austin Peay State University in 1972. After graduation, she taught middle school science for six years. In 1979, Rebecca took a position at Austin Peay State University in the College of Education. At this time, she began a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction and Leadership at Vanderbilt University. Rebecca graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1984 with a Doctor of Education degree. During the three-year period of working on her doctorate, she also taught full-time for Austin Peay State University. Also, during that three-year period, she had two sons who were born fifteen months apart. Rebecca counts them as her greatest achievements. She spent 35 years as a professor of teacher education in the College of Education at Austin Peay State University and served as Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education for eight years. In 2016, Rebecca retired and now works from home in Anderson, South Carolina teaching graduate research for Austin Peay State University online. Her two sons live in Anderson. Her property is ten minutes from Lake Hartwell’s Portman Marina, where she moors her 33.5’ Hunter sailboat, “Lickety Split” which is Coast Guard-documented. She carries Coast Guard numbers. She has recently joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary at the Portman Marina Flotilla in Anderson, South Carolina. It is her hope that you become acquainted with the “family” and laugh along with them as you read this work!
