Hard to believe after all these years, but I have Elsie’s Story in hand, the result of decades of research in material form. Part memoir and part detective tale, the book relates a lengthy search for answers to the mysterious death of my Aunt Elsie [Green] Woodson in 1960.

What happened to Aunt Elsie? Was her death an accident, suicide, or murder? And what had happened to Uncle Roy’s first wife?

Haunted by Elsie’s death in a northern Wisconsin tavern, I embarked on what would turn out to be a decades-long search using journalistic inquiry, family history research, and even hypnosis . The quest led to secrets, surprises, and, finally, a solution.

The book is available at http://henschelhausbooks.com/. It can also be ordered from bookstores and there’s a Kindle edition on Amazon. It appears thanks to enormous help and encouragement received from many folks over the years.

Yesterday I was at a Spring Green resale shop, when a man ran in, shouting, “Your dumpster is on fire! Call 911!”

Two clerks, several other customers and I ran outside. Flames leapt above the dumpster, nestled in a roofed alcove at the front of the one-story building. A clerk set a fire extinguisher on the ground. “I don’t know how to use this.”

A tall gray-haired woman picked it up. Seconds later, she had pulled off the plastic tie wound around the head of the cylinder and aimed it at the flames. Smoke billowed. A small explosion echoed from deep in the dumpster. But then the cylinder was empty. The flames as ravenous as ever moved up the corner of the roof.

I ran back inside. “Anyone in here?”

“Yes,” a clerk emerged from the back of the store.

“You need to get out. The roof has caught fire.”

I ran outside and jumped into my car, parked in front of the building. The gray-haired woman directed me as I backed out of harm’s way. Sirens sounded in the near distance.

Had someone tossed a cigarette butt into the dumpster? Had combustible materials self-ignited? One small event leads to another until they together erupt into reality.

The fire reminds me of Elsie’s Story: Chasing a Family Mystery. Each small, researched fact and tiny realized “Aha!” build into a crescendo of a story—a story of hope as well as destruction.

Elsie’s Story is at the printer. See http://henschelhausbooks.com/.

When unraveling your family’s past, there are bound to be surprises. This past summer, the Washington Post covered the discovery of Alice Collins Plebuch. When she took a DNA test to learn about her roots, the results revealed a bloodline only half descended from the expected British Isles.

After years of  research, involving the analysis of hundreds of other DNA tests, Plebuch proved that her father, born in 1913, had been switched with another baby in the hospital. The man so proud of his Irish heritage (“Danny Boy” was sung at his funeral) had actually been European Jewish, Middle Eastern and Eastern European. Kudos to Plebuch for sticking with a challenging search!

Though longer, my  search for closure following my Aunt Elsie’s death seemed equally astounding, at least, to me. Stay tuned.

Last year, I optimistically began this blog, believing that the story about my Aunt Elsie’s mysterious death in a northern Wisconsin tavern was about to be born. But, no, not quite then.

The book is closer to publication this fall. There’s a new, final chapter, added to incorporate yet another surprising, out-of-the-blue discovery, as well as a revised title. More important, there’s a publisher. Henschel Haus, Milwaukee, is completing the design and final details, so that Elsie’s Story: Chasing a Family Mystery will finally be available later this year.

Think about any tragedy, murder, or, especially, suicide. Why in hindsight do such events often seem so clear? I wonder whether we do not see them coming because (1) we do not wish to face their possibility, and (2) we know that in all circumstances there are always multiple possible outcomes, and (3) our job is to hope.

One time or another, most cat and dog hosts (we’re surely not owners) have seen this behavior: the beloved feline or canine stares pointedly at the leash, the closed door to the outside world, or the crock full of treats — fixated on what they want.Until they get it, which they usually do.

This is my reminder for the day, to focus on what I want and not drag myself away from goals with analysis, anxiety, or worry about worst-case scenarios. Besides, there’s no fun in that. It’s the prospect of gifts to come that elicits purrs.

Elsie’s Elegy: A Quest for Closure

Haunted by her aunt Elsie’s death in 1960, niece Doris Green searches for family skeletons and finds genealogical clues to how Elsie died at a northern Wisconsin tavern. The author seeks an answer to a murder-vs.-suicide debate through a mash-up of journalistic inquiry, family history research, and alternative ways of knowing such as astrology and hypnosis. Stay tuned for the rest of the story...