BILLINGS, Mont., March 21, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Becky Hornbacher is a "little thing." Even in her early years as a tomboy in the harsh Nebraska lands, Becky was a small girl with a big spirit. This is the colorful character author Rhoda Lockert introduces in The Little Thing (now available through 1stBooks Library), a touching account of her mother's struggles.
Unable to attend a formal school until her early teen years, Becky graduated high school at an older age and went to Portland, Ore., to attend nurses' training, a lifelong dream. She soon met and married her husband and they had four girls and one boy who died shortly after birth. She lost her husband, Oscar, two months later to pneumonia. Six weeks after Oscar's death, Becky contracted polio. Struggling to keep her head above water, Becky and her four girls moved to Yakima Valley, Wash., where she worked, despite excruciating pain, all summer in crop fields.
She later became a nurse, continuing the career that she loved until her retirement at age 70. Becky survived and outlived three husbands, all of her siblings and many of her friends. Becky now lives in Seattle. She is currently 100 years old and will turn 101 as of May 2003.
When asked about the harrowing experiences depicted in Lockert's book, Becky modestly replies: "Well, that's the way it was."
Lockert (Schlehuber) is Becky's oldest daughter and currently lives with her husband in Billings, Mont. She has two grown sons, three grandchildren, four step grandchildren and two step great grandchildren. Beginning at the young age of 16, Lockert worked either in the legal field or the banking business until her retirement. The Little Thing is Lockert's first book.
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