Side-Yard Superhero: Life Lessons from an Unlikely Teacher

Although life's journey takes him far from his childhood home, Rick D. Niece, Ph.D., never forgets the people he meets and the lessons he learns as a young man growing up in picturesque DeGraff, Ohio, population 900. A small-town newspaper boy who becomes a lifelong educator himself, Dr. Niece is deeply touched by the endearing residents of DeGraff who shaped his youth, especially Bernie Jones. Confined to a wheelchair with severe cerebral palsy, Bernie becomes Ricki's friend, inspiration and superhero, opening a world of compassion, trust and adventure to them both. When he leaves DeGraff to attend Ohio State University, Rick promises Bernie that he will visit him again. Unfortunately, when Bernie s parents pass away, Bernie disappears, too, taken in by a distant relative. Forty years later, Rick learns that his boyhood friend is living in a nursing home. Returning to Ohio, he visits the never-to-be-forgotten Bernie Jones of a childhood long past and a promise finally kept. Complete book on 1 MP3 CD.