Books by Kathy G Widener

The story of the Gantts of Rayflin lives on in the final book, Southern Child: A Memoir. The author describes in her own words her childhood."I lived basically the same life as my granddaddy, uncle, and daddy. By the time I came along, we did have electricity, added in 1948. Otherwise, things were pretty much the same, no indoor plumbing, and only wood as a heat source. The barn was torn down before my time, but the land was still farmed. Daddy was never a farmer, he worked in a cotton mill in the nearest town. Having been born after my Granddaddy Kelly's death, I never knew him personally. However, through the stories passed down to me, I always felt like I did. The old unpainted clapboard house built in 1912 still stands on a dirt road called Swamp Rabbit Road, less than a mile 'as the crow flies' from the black waters of the North Edisto River. We were happy go lucky kids and grew up with a sense of independence and strong guidance from our elders. Imagination was the key to our entertainment. I have included many of the mishaps and ways we devised to amuse ourselves."Southern Child gives true insight into what country life in the South was like for children in the 1950's and 60's, from someone who lived that life. It was a different world then.

Rayflin: The Return Home continues the story of the Gantt family from 1923 to 1950 and explores how grief and hard times affected their lives as the years unfolded in the backwoods of South Carolina. Kelly Gantt's children, Leon, Louise, and Elsie, had just lost their mother and were faced with a new reality: one where they no longer lived with their grandparents and had a new stepmother named Florence. But family drama was not the only challenge the Gantts faced. In 1924, a tornado ravaged the nearby small community of Steadman and completely destroyed the school, and in 1929, the stock market crashed, causing unimaginable hardship for all Americans.Even so, living in the country and owning land shielded the Gantts from much of the poverty that devastated their neighbors. Making moonshine was just one more way for Kelly and his brothers to make ends meet, because no matter the cost, many folks depended on strong spirits to make it through times of hardship, and they were willing to pay whatever it took to feed their addiction.From the Great Depression to the New Deal and the horrors of World War II, the Gantt family experienced it all. Rayflin: The Return Home recounts their tale with heart, reminding every baby boomer just what their families had to do to survive.