Polson writer releases first novel
<p class="p1">Carmine “Margo” Mowbray of Polson has published her first work of fiction, “An Answering Flame,” based on the true stories of her aunt, who was a nurse in the Frontier Nursing Service in Kentucky during World War II.</p>
Carmine “Margo” Mowbray of Polson has published her first work of fiction, “An Answering Flame,” based on the true stories of her aunt, who was a nurse in the Frontier Nursing Service in Kentucky during World War II.
Frontier Nursing Service nurse-midwives rode horseback up Kentucky’s rugged hollows to deliver babies and treat the sick and injured day or night, winter or summer. Risking surprise encounters with desperate bootleggers, they answered the call, usually alone with only what they could carry in their saddlebags.
In winter their horses wore iron shoes with ice nails for traction in the treacherous creeks. In summer the only defense against poisonous snakes were the nurses’ tall leather boots.
By the light of smoking kerosene lamps, the women delivered babies as lard cans of creek water boiled over the wood stove. Undaunted by fires, floods, drought, the Great Depression and World War II rationing, they brought professional medical care to America’s most remote families, lowering the maternity death rate below the national average.
One young nurse had to reach deep into her soul for the courage to go on. By and by, she could not imagine her life anyplace else.
“I can’t take credit for these amazing stories,” Mowbray says. “Aunt Doris wrote an amateur memoir in 1980 that was full of thrilling episodes of treating folks with only what she could carry in her saddlebags. It was a real joy to research and present her stories more professionally for readers to enjoy.”
Mowbray’s newspaper career began at age 20 by proofreading legal notices and obituaries for one of Montana's oldest weeklies. She then became a news and features correspondent for the Missoulian.
Between 1983 and 1987, she and her former husband, Todd, bought the Polson, Ronan and Mission Valley newspapers and combined them into the Lake County Leader. They and their staff continued publishing the award-winning paper until the Mowbrays sold the enterprise in 2000.
Mowbray served in the state Senate from 2011 to 2013. When those duties diminished, she completed her 206-page book, which includes historic photos from the University of Kentucky archives.
“An Answering Flame” is available in Polson and Ronan retail stores. It is also available at Bookworks in Kalispell and Whitefish, and on Amazon.com in soft-cover and Kindle editions.
For more information, visit www.authormargomowbray.com.