The Jim Lucas Checotah Library will host a book review and signing on Thursday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. with author Vanessa VanCleave, a former Eufaula High School graduate and Mvskoke citizen.
Vanessa (McIntosh) Van-Cleave, recently released a touching memoir that was 20 years in the making. The book, “Hearing AIDS: How a Deaf Child with AIDS Taught Me to Hear God’s Voice” is the tragic yet triumphant story of Maegan, Vanessa’s step daughter, who valiantly battled AIDS and became deaf at a very tender age. The memoir honors this brave little girl who through her silent world taught others to listen more closely to God’s still, small voice.
“I’ve been working on the memoir for over 20 years,” Vanessa said. “I kept thinking if I finished the book, it would be closing the chapter on Maegan’s life. Now I realize it really meant opening a whole new chapter.”
Vanessa’s roots run deep in McIntosh County. In fact the county was named after her ancestors whose members led the migration of the Lower Towns to Indian Territory and served as leaders for generations. Her father was Vann McIntosh who was the director at Eufaula Boarding school for four years then served as Cooper McClain principal for over 10 years. Her mom was a fourth grade teacher and librarian at Eufaula, and her grandmother was Hazel McIntosh, the postmaster at Stidham for many years. Her sisters, Misty McIntosh and Valaina Frost still live near McIntosh County and her cousins, Roley and Stanley McIntosh run a dental practice in Eufaula.
“I grew up in rural Oklahoma and attended the Big Arbor Indian Baptist Church in Stidham where they sang Mvskoke songs every week. I first learned the power of the written word in first grade at Crowder Elementary School. My teacher, Concetta Gragg, made a big deal out of a poem I wrote about the dogwood tree. My pastor asked me to recite it at church on Easter Sunday, and my soul was awakened to the power of the written word to touch hearts.
“My love and calling as a writer flourished in high school at Eufaula. Jan Gaines was a teacher who gave me my first journal, and later on Mrs. Applegate continually encouraged me in my writing. At Connors State College, Wilmatine Griffin and Bridget Beaver both had a tremendous influence on me as a writer.
“I have always loved the power of stories and storytelling. I actually worked for the Eufaula Indian Journal as a copywriter the year after I graduated in 1992. It was there that I learned the power of stories, I think.”
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear this amazing local writer as she brings a message of hope through a dying child’s eyes.
