Into That Good Night: A Memoir

By Ron Rozelle

Book Overview

Strong-willed and charismatic, Lester Rozelle was school superintendent in the small East Texas town of Oakwood from the 1930s to the 1960's. A deep-rooted fixture in the community, he guided his schools through disastrous fires and the strained process of integration in President Lyndon Johnson's home state. When he began to show signs of Alzheimer's disease, the author had to watch the painful transformation of his proud father into a dependent and ultimately foreign person.

Into That Good Night is a son's gift. Seemingly powerless to do anything but witness the slow loss of his father's past, Ron Rozelle re-creates and reclaims his own past: the dusty streets, tired old houses, and wallpapered rooms of his childhood. Rozelle tells of his early, confused discovery of racial inequality, his induction into the military, his decision to become a teacher himself, and the deaths of his parents. Poignant and impressionistic, Into That Good Night is a heartbreakingly lyrical memoir whose fine cadences and shining images will echo for a long time to come.

"I guess you're O.K. about your mother, - he says. It is a statement, but I can sense a well-disguised question hiding behind It.
"Sure," I say. Knowing this to be not enough of a response, I dig -around for something else. The problem is that I don't know what he's getting at.
"I miss her," I offer.
He turns his pipe in his hand and studies it from several angles. We rock ever so- slightly, as if to remind our­selves that we're on a swing, and are quiet for so long that I think I've provid­ed a sufficiently satisfying response.
"I don't know, - he finally says. "It's just that you were away when it all happened." He unzips his tobacco pouch and begins to reload his pipe; I know that he is fortifying himself for the discussion that he is determined to have. Heart-to-heart conversations have never come easy for him; he would rather listen than talk, and he is an absolute master at hiding his emotions. We never had the birds and bees lesson when I was growing up. He pushed that chore off on Diane's second husband, a charming but troubled man who danced through several years of our lives before mov­ing on to bother other people.
"She was mighty sick," he says lighting his pipe.
A single, clear honk from a goose comes through the dark­ness; then several others join in. They aren't close enough to the orange moon to pick up any of it, and Oak­wood doesn't generate enough light to reflect off their white stomachs, so we can't see them. They sing us a few bars of their ancient traveling song, and then are gone.
"I know you two had some troubles." He puffs a few times to get the tobacco burning.
"You shouldn't think any of it was your fault." - From Into That Good Night

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1881515311
• ISBN13: 9781881515319
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Trp: The University Press of Shsu
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Beautifully written book

This is one of the best books I have ever read! I devoured it in a day. Beautifully written.

Should be an Oprah book club selection

My parents grew up in Oakwood and knew Ron's father, and that's why I read this book. However, it's a beautifully written story, and you don't have to have an Oakwood or Texas connection to appreciate it. It's a very real slice of life and captures moments with poignancy and realism. I felt like I was there with him during all parts of the story. Oprah-this is your kind of book-a wonderful snapshot of simple but complex nuances of small town life. Bravo, Ron!

A sister's praise

As Ron's sister, I am so proud of him and grateful that he chose to apply his God given talent and write this beautiful memoir of our father. As others see a glimpse of this gentle, kind man's life and his slowly declining health, I'm sure it sharpens the senses and memories of many families in similiar situations. I, also have been reminded of the many little things not thought of for years. I can see Mother and Ron all snuggled up, sitting in front of the Christmas tree in our living room in Oakwood, whispering to each other about the joys of Christmas. What a wonderful tribute and show of love for our father! This kind and gentle man was my hero, my very best friend and the person who, just by his presence, made everything in life "all right." Thank you,Ron. I love you. Janie

The search of every son for the father of his youth.

Perhaps it is because I live in Palestine, Texas one of the towns which is the subject of the book, that this book meant so much too me. I doubt it. The authors search for the father of his youth and the love felt, but never fully expressed, is the search all sons make. The author brings to life the characters of his youth and the character of his mother and father. I have emailed my friends a note to buy and read this book.

A memoir about memory.

As a former student of Ron Rozelle's, I am both excited and proud to finally find a book listed under his name. He has managed to evoke East Texas with a clarity and simplicity that reminds me of one of his (and my) favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway. Yet Ron's voice is uniquely his own.Throughout this brief, quietly courageous memoir which focuses on the beauty and fragility of memory, Ron reveals much about himself and his family -- both humorous and painful. By doing so, he has revealed much about our struggles with age and the ways our memories, the places where we once lived, and even the people we love can fade in and out of focus -- and, sometimes, be lost forever. Fortunately, we have writers like Ron to capture and hold those memories for all of us.Ron alludes to my own home town, Palestine, Texas, frequently in his book. I have seen Palestine change over the years since I was a child, and I found my emotions about many of those changes echoed in Ron's memories of his own nearby home town of Oakwood.Congratulations, Ron. Passages of your book continue to reverberate in my mind -- and, I'm sure, the minds of many others. For a book about the fragility of memory, that is no small accomplishment.