By Jackolyn Houghton
On Saturday, March 18 an impressive and humble 97 year old John R. Tweedy was able to hold a book signing for his first ever published children’s book.
[private]A very nostalgic man in a red sweater sat in a blue high-back chair, in his den while a fire crackled in the fireplace beside him. With his family by his side and community members there to support him, Mr. Tweedy told me his story of becoming a published author.
As Mr. Tweedy’s days at the track turned into months he thought how nice it would be to write a children’s book. See, back when Mr. Tweedy was at retirement age he did just that, he retired. It was 1977, and as the weeks moved on he was approached by a friend who asked him to come work at an upstate NY racetrack. He thought the extra money would be beneficial and that it would give him something constructive to do, so he agreed to the job.
Days at the track were eye opening for Mr. Tweedy. Horses came in by the truckloads and he would check them in and lead them to the barn. Throughout the day he would make his rounds through the stalls, making sure the horses were sound and they had what they needed. It was then that he realized a horse racetrack was much more than horses in barns that raced on a track.
It was then he learned that horses became lonely, and due to the sadness they would not perform well. He also learned that because of this, each horse got a companion or “pet.” Whether it was a donkey, a pig, or a cat, each horse would be housed with another animal so that it would stay calm and happy assisting with a successful performance from the horse on the racetrack.
Sometime during the 1990s, his ruminations about the horse companions led to his idea of Clancy, a lonely little donkey who lived next door to a racetrack. Tweedy happily rekindled his notion of becoming a children’s picture book author and a new inspiration was born. He became focused on drawing illustrations and writing the story line, but, with so much in life taking the forefront, as it commonly does, the story was placed in a manila envelope and was left unnoticed for many years.
Just last year, Mr. Tweedy stumbled upon the story again and offered it to his granddaughter Rebecca Rob to take home with her. He told her that he would just end up tossing it in the garbage if she didn’t. That is when Rob’s mission to help her grandfather realize his dream of becoming a published author was set in motion. She set out to find a publisher for the book.
As luck would have it, she connected with Archway Publishing, a division of Simon & Schuster, who were interested in the book. When asked about Archway Publishing, Tweedy replied, “they loved hearing the story about this little donkey who came from poverty, but found a better life for himself in spite of his unfortunate circumstances, and they agreed to publish it”.
For Tweedy, this day was more than special, to him it was a miracle. A couple of years ago, Mr. Tweedy was diagnosed with an incurable eye disease called macular degeneration, and he has been losing his eyesight. He has difficulty seeing almost everything. Because of this disease, he had to adjust the story by listening to his granddaughter read the editor’s notations and suggestions along with his story line. They worked closely with editors from Archway Publishing to get it just right. With his granddaughter’s support and after three decades, his dream has become a reality. Clancy, The Lonely Little Donkey is currently for sale at retail outlets such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. [/private]