Seasons of Grief & Grace: A Sister's Story of AIDS

Susan Ford Wiltshire and John Ford grew up in the Texas Panhandle, "taking the long view of things, where there was lots to think about because there was nothing to see except the horizon twenty-five miles away." The four Ford children were taught the value of learning and hard work by their father, a cowboy with a serious love of poetry, and their mother, a Texas woman whose rural roots did not prevent her from mastering Latin or reading all of Shakespeare. Susan became a noted classics scholar, while John's work in Republican politics led to his appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Agriculture in the Reagan Administration, from which he resigned in frustration to become active in the American Farm Movement. Just two weeks before his death, he was given the Heroes of American Agriculture Award. When disaster struck and John was diagnosed with AIDS, Susan began writing a work reminiscent of May Sarton's journals, Madeleine L'Engle's Two-Part Invention, and Jessamyn West's The Woman Said Yes. Drawing on the force of family bonds and her humanistic training in classical studies for comfort and guidance, she shows us two siblings sharing an agonizing but special journey, finding opportunities rather than resignation, commitment rather than withdrawal, and strength instead of defeat. This is, in short, a good and inspiring story - one that will help point the way for the millions of others - those who are HIV positive as well as their friends and families - who bear the emotional wounds this disease is inflicting on ever-increasing numbers of us.