The River's Bend
By Jayne Blodgett Murray
By Jayne Blodgett Murray
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Now available as an ebook on Barnes & Noble's Nook and Amazon's Kindle
The River’s Bend is the journey of a small town Wisconsin girl who reads her way
through her bedridden childhood illness during the Depression; gets
“discovered” on the train to California while visiting the man she loves; detours to
post-war New York where she becomes a successful model; rubs shoulders with
the rich, famous and political including JFK; marries and becomes a typical 1950s
housewife; moves to the suburbs to raise her children in the safety of Cold-War
suburbia, and comes full circle back to Mayville, Wisconsin where today she runs a
charming Bed & Breakfast.
Hers is a story of relationships: her close and loving bonds with her grandfather,
mother and brother; her lifelong love for her Mayville sweetheart; her deep
friendship with model Gloria Emerson, her sidekick in the New York social scene
who eventually becomes a war correspondent and outspoken critic of the Vietnam
War; her relationship with Jack Kennedy fresh off the PT boat and a political
neophyte; her husband, her children, her grandchildren.
With an underlying sense of humor, Jayne shares intimate memories of a life that
spans major world upheavals, powerful underlying social forces, and navigates
through her own personal journey. It is a story that ultimately we all relate to: love
found, love lost and love found again.
“A look into an amazing life and the water that runs through it all. Murray proves
that no matter where a person comes from one can accomplish great things, and
never lose sight of who you are.”
—Ken Thomas, Assistant Editor, Capital Newspapers
"An engaging personal history. Revealing her deep appreciation of our
interconnectedness with others, Murray recounts her ties with family and friends,
including the famous, and weaves together thestrands of a rich, fascinating and
obviously fulfilling life."
—Representative Tom Petri, 6th District, Wisconsin
“What a remarkable life! This book is hard to set down; I wanted to know what
would happen next in this adventurous tale. This is an honest, upfront and
revealing look at one woman's amazing life story.”
—Renee Wahlen Tillema, Editor, InSpire Magazine
The River’s Bend is the journey of a small town Wisconsin girl who reads her way
through her bedridden childhood illness during the Depression; gets
“discovered” on the train to California while visiting the man she loves; detours to
post-war New York where she becomes a successful model; rubs shoulders with
the rich, famous and political including JFK; marries and becomes a typical 1950s
housewife; moves to the suburbs to raise her children in the safety of Cold-War
suburbia, and comes full circle back to Mayville, Wisconsin where today she runs a
charming Bed & Breakfast.
Hers is a story of relationships: her close and loving bonds with her grandfather,
mother and brother; her lifelong love for her Mayville sweetheart; her deep
friendship with model Gloria Emerson, her sidekick in the New York social scene
who eventually becomes a war correspondent and outspoken critic of the Vietnam
War; her relationship with Jack Kennedy fresh off the PT boat and a political
neophyte; her husband, her children, her grandchildren.
With an underlying sense of humor, Jayne shares intimate memories of a life that
spans major world upheavals, powerful underlying social forces, and navigates
through her own personal journey. It is a story that ultimately we all relate to: love
found, love lost and love found again.
“A look into an amazing life and the water that runs through it all. Murray proves
that no matter where a person comes from one can accomplish great things, and
never lose sight of who you are.”
—Ken Thomas, Assistant Editor, Capital Newspapers
"An engaging personal history. Revealing her deep appreciation of our
interconnectedness with others, Murray recounts her ties with family and friends,
including the famous, and weaves together thestrands of a rich, fascinating and
obviously fulfilling life."
—Representative Tom Petri, 6th District, Wisconsin
“What a remarkable life! This book is hard to set down; I wanted to know what
would happen next in this adventurous tale. This is an honest, upfront and
revealing look at one woman's amazing life story.”
—Renee Wahlen Tillema, Editor, InSpire Magazine
Jayne was the
Cover Story for
Inspire Magazine
Cover Story for
Inspire Magazine
ISBN 1884820-99-9
$18.95
Click Here to
Order paperback
$18.95
Click Here to
Order paperback
Chapter 10 Excerpt:
Jack Kennedy’s Blue Jeans
Shortly after Jack and I met on our blind date, he sent me a telegram from Palm Beach saying, “Wish you were
here. Can you go out Saturday night when I come back to NY?” He sent a telegram asking me for a date!
Occasionally he called, but often he just sent a telegram. One of the reasons Jack and I got along so well, I
think, was because we had both experienced being sick in our childhoods, and had spent so much of that
time reading. We had both read many books and had fun comparing our favorite childhood stories. Even
more important, we could empathize with each other about being bedridden as young children. That was
something that definitely made us compatible, plus I was always interested in politics.
Jack was extremely thin and had a yellowish cast to his skin, which I attributed to the Atabrine he had to take
for malaria. They gave it to everybody who was in the Pacific during the war so they wouldn’t catch the
disease. Although he was tall, he was also very lanky and bony and weighed less than I did.
It never occurred to me that Jack had the potential to be president of the United States because he never
came across that way at all to me. We talked about books and politics and he was fun to be with, but he
always seemed kind of boyish despite being ten years older than I. He was not at all serious, and I wrote my
mother, “…he has this little boy quality that makes me feel motherly.” At the time I was seeing Jack, he didn’t
have much ambition. It was his older brother Joe who had been groomed for politics. Joe had been the apple
of his father’s eye, and Jack didn’t expect to be the oner running for office. When Joe got killed, Jack knew he
was next in line, and he wasn’t that pleased. He really wanted to be a college professor, I think, and would
have liked to live a less pressured life.
Jack Kennedy’s Blue Jeans
Shortly after Jack and I met on our blind date, he sent me a telegram from Palm Beach saying, “Wish you were
here. Can you go out Saturday night when I come back to NY?” He sent a telegram asking me for a date!
Occasionally he called, but often he just sent a telegram. One of the reasons Jack and I got along so well, I
think, was because we had both experienced being sick in our childhoods, and had spent so much of that
time reading. We had both read many books and had fun comparing our favorite childhood stories. Even
more important, we could empathize with each other about being bedridden as young children. That was
something that definitely made us compatible, plus I was always interested in politics.
Jack was extremely thin and had a yellowish cast to his skin, which I attributed to the Atabrine he had to take
for malaria. They gave it to everybody who was in the Pacific during the war so they wouldn’t catch the
disease. Although he was tall, he was also very lanky and bony and weighed less than I did.
It never occurred to me that Jack had the potential to be president of the United States because he never
came across that way at all to me. We talked about books and politics and he was fun to be with, but he
always seemed kind of boyish despite being ten years older than I. He was not at all serious, and I wrote my
mother, “…he has this little boy quality that makes me feel motherly.” At the time I was seeing Jack, he didn’t
have much ambition. It was his older brother Joe who had been groomed for politics. Joe had been the apple
of his father’s eye, and Jack didn’t expect to be the oner running for office. When Joe got killed, Jack knew he
was next in line, and he wasn’t that pleased. He really wanted to be a college professor, I think, and would
have liked to live a less pressured life.
Read excerpt from
Chapter 10 below
JFK's blue jeans.
Chapter 10 below
JFK's blue jeans.
I found this photo of Jack at a thrift store a few years ago. It shows what he looked like when I knew him. I
tried to find the photographer but couldn’t.
tried to find the photographer but couldn’t.
Soon to be available in
an e reader format..
an e reader format..