The latest segment of “Author’s Corner” in America Tonight with Kate Delaney features Edith King Vosefski, author of the autobiography The Nine Lives of Curious Edith (Fig Factor Media; 2020).
Vosefski is immersed in many fields; not only she is a published author but also an artist, actress, educator, newspaper columnist, therapist, speaker, and etiquette expert. By accounts, she has lived her life through continuous learning and reinvention, believing her curiosity in almost every aspect of life keeps her going and her mind sharp. In one interview, she said, “An old dog can learn new tricks if she is determined. Don’t ever believe that an old person can’t learn new tricks. She can, if she is really determined, and still has her mind.”
Vosefski became a first-time author in her 70s, with the publication of an etiquette book Mariana’s Little Book of Manners. She also wrote and illustrated her own two children’s books, titled Leo’s Out of This World Adventure and Leo and the Spirit of Golden Boy. Her latest publishing effort is an autobiography about her life, which is illustrious and well-lived, aptly titled The Nine Lives of Curious Edith. While completing her book, the author was managing the side effects of stroke and had to type the manuscript with one finger. She was already when her book was finally published.
The Nine Lives of Curious Edith takes readers through the life and works of Vosefski, as well as major milestones including the loss of her father, her son’s dyslexia, taking care of her mother, and the death of her husband.
Never too old to share one’s life story
It never occurred to Vosefski to write a book about her life until being persuaded by her friends.
“I have a lot of my friends keep saying to me, ‘You are so different. Your life is so beautiful and so unusual. You should write a book,” Vosefski told her host Kate Delaney in the latter’s program America Tonight.
“I heard that over and over, and I’d say, ‘When you tell such a great story, you should write them down and let people know how you’ve managed your life.’ Well, I shouldn’t be into it, but I have written some children’s books first and did take just one class in creative writing, and that teacher kept saying, ‘Write what you know.’ What I know better than my life?”
Meeting her future husband
Her husband of sixty-four years, Joseph Francis, passed away almost six years ago to pancreatic cancer. Joe was going to college on a GI Bill scholarship in the morning and, at night, worked as a cook at the home for boys.
“I left college… and went directly to my very first job. It was a home for boys whose parents had either died or sometimes ended up in divorce and want to care for them after their family went to pieces. This was run by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. I got the job to help make a speech program for the kids, and they asked me to be the housemother of 6- and 7-year-olds. I had 23 kids assigned to me, and I was just about to turn 22.
“They gave me a tour of the place. When I got in the kitchen, there was this very nice-looking, skinny young man. After the person who was escorting me around the building wanted us to go to the next place, this skinny young man came over to me, and he said, ‘Hi, I’m Joe. Are you here for a job?’
“I said, ‘Well, happy to know you’d be here today, yes.’
“He said, ‘Oh, well, I’ll crush my fingers should you get it.’
“The man who was escorting me around the building said, ‘We need to go.’
“The young man said, ‘I’m Joe, and I hope you’re gonna get the job.’”
Does she have nine lives?
Vosefski recalled her check-up with the doctor, whose remarks somewhat inspired the book’s title.
“I had a long, long stay at the hospital just when I was about to turn 89. It was just the most unusual thing. When I got out of the hospital and went for a final health visit, my primary doctor said to me, “You know, Edith? You’re just like a cat. The truth is that a cat doesn’t have more than nine lives, should somebody ask me. No matter what’s happened to you or what we do as doctors to you, we can’t kill you. You always survive.”
Make sure to listen to the whole interview.
Get Edith King Vosefski’sThe Nine Lives of Curious Edith today on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Lives-Curious-Edith/dp/1952779138
Know more about the author’s work by visiting her website http://edithvosefski.com/