ALMA — As Mildred Calkins and her husband moved into their new apartment, she discovered a story she had written in 2003.
The story grew into a novel, “A Ghost’s Dilemma.” Her novel uses a ghost’s point of view to tell stories about growing up on Calkins’s family’s farm outside Alma.
She owned and operated the company until 2005.
“We had a ghost on our farm who lived in the barn, so I had him tell the story. So, of course, part of it’s fiction and part of it’s true,” Calkins said. The novel uses the ghost to share stories about World War II and local businesses.”
“It’s so very good. I liked it because it explains a lot of history of Alma. It’s just full of information about things that went on in the ’30s and ’40s,” Kim King said.
King works at Main Street Variety, one of the vendors selling the novel. She has spent most of her life in Alma and watched Calkins’s granddaughters grow up.
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Calkins first became aware of the ghost as a young girl when a hired hand quit. She said the man came in one night and told her father he had seen a ghost that night in the feedlot. Calkins’s father replied there had been a man who had been killed in the feedlot while feeding a bull. The man had served as a sheriff, owned a butcher shop and raised cattle. He’s buried in the local cemetery.
The novel started as that 1930s story she had begun and put away.
“I started on it several years ago and put it away, but then we moved, and I was going through all these things. I thought, ‘You know Mildred either finish it or throw it away,’ and after all that work I opted to finish it,” Calkins said.
The novel was published through Morris Press. Calkins is still surprised the novel has sold so well. Main Street Variety in Alma has sold 100 copies.
“The ghost’s point of view is full of interesting information, of times past. ... It was like they were his family. He watched out for them in a really awesome way,” King said.
Calkins also helped compile the history of Alma for the local library. Calkins said she has taken a few creative writing class. Throughout her career she would write down interesting little stories about her life and career. Her father started two local companies, Haeker Furriers and The Alma Tanning Co. Calkins joined her father as a part owner of Haeker Furriers in 1948.
The novel has a picture of her most famous customer, actor Larry Hagman, in the back. She once sold his wife a cape.
Her novel is as much about the men who worked for her father as it is about the ghost. The book is also being sold in Kearney at Hastings Entertainment, Second Stories and The Sequel Bookshop.
“We had people requesting the book. We’re pretty excited,” said Lisa Neuheisel, owner of the Sequel Bookshop. Neuheisel said Calkins had her first book signing on Dec. 21. The book signing had a good turnout.
“We had people stop in specifically to see her and to buy the book,” Neuheisel said.
Through the ghost, Calkins writes about a time when her family’s farm was the only one with running water and electricity for miles around. She describes the first chapter as her favorite part of the book.
“I thought maybe I really got my feelings into the first chapter. Then, after that, it was little memories that would pop up,” Calkins said. The novel’s cover was designed by Dusti Torrey, owner of Joe Camera. Torrey’s husband, Joe, scanned all the pictures for the book.
In addition to being a talented writer, Calkins has also found success with quilting. The Peace Lutheran Church in Alma recently remodeled its parsonage. Calkins donated a quilt for the church to raffle off.
The quilt is titled, “God’s Glory Covers the Earth.” Calkins designed the pattern herself, starting with a square showing the water dividing from the Earth. The quilt took second place at the Nebraska State Fair and won grand champion at the Harlan County Fair.
“I’ve always loved sewing, hand work. I suppose that’s why I liked the fur business because I could sew. I started quilting several years ago,” Calkins said.
This is the second quilt Calkins has donated to help raise money for the church. A quilt she donated four years ago depicting types of churches raised $5,000 to help cover the cost of a new addition to the church.
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