story and photos by judy maxwell  |  vintage photos from old times are not forgotten

Wynelle Ruark and her friends sat and talked about the good old days in Bostwick, Morgan County, they decided to stop talking and get busy writing.

Ruark, 79, and Nancy Carey Peters, 78, spent four years collecting essays, remembrances and photographs from Bostwick residents and former neighbors who had moved on. At the end of the project the women received the help of a tech-savvy Amy Snow Herndon, Ruark's 23-year-old granddaughter who pulled the pictures and the words together on a computer disk and added the finishing touches to "Old Times Here Are Not Forgotten: A Collection of Memories About Bostwick, Georgia," published by Southern Lion Books of Madison.

Packed between the hard-back glossy covers are 590 pages, featuring more than 1,300 photographs and nearly 100 personal remembrances penned by contributing authors with such last names as Amacher, Batchelor, Bostwick, Brook, Callaway, Carswell, Fambrough, Gilbert, Green, Kimsey, Lill, McHugh, Nunn, Pannell, Parker, Pulliam, Riden, Sosebee, Verner and Walker.
"What's been so rewarding," said Ruark, "was talking with people we haven't seen in years."
The whole process took longer than the women first expected, and involved the women sending out hundreds of letters asking for contributions. "We were very naive," laughed Ruark. "My granddaughter had just finished college and was able to help us. She's very creative and computer literate."

The book is dedicated to Ruark's husband, Charles Ruark Sr., "who went onto Glory March 15, 2010." "He constantly encouraged us to finish the book," writes Ruark in the dedication. "He kept saying, 'I'll never get to read it!' We never thought that would be true. For his concern, his encouragement and his love for us and for Bostwick, we dedicate this book in his memory."
The book costs $30 and can be purchased from Ruark. For more information, call  her at 706-342-2391.

Printed in the June 23, 2011 edition