Wenonah's Story: A Memoir of a Chickasaw Family

Wenonah's Story combines the tragic, the triumphant, the heartwarming, and often the madcap - all the colors and shades of family life - into an unforgettable and touching portrait of J. Wenonah Paul Gunning and her family, the Pauls of the Chickasaw Nation town of Pauls Valley. Written in Wenonah's narrative voice by her son, Robin Gunning, the memoir-style saga follows the family's trajectory from the courtship and marriage of Wenonah's parents, Bill and Victoria Paul, through the happy and prosperous early years of their marriage and the tragic, sudden death of a child that sends the family into a downward spiral as they try to deal with their grief. As Wenonah recounts the family's struggle to regain their footing, her story intertwines with local, state, and tribal history as she describes her family's role in the Chickasaw Nation politics of Indian Territory, her time at Bloomfield Academy and the University of Oklahoma, her experiences growing up in Pauls Valley, and the influential roles her brothers Homer and Haskell Paul played in Oklahoma state government. Drawing from the lifetime of stories his mother told him and his own family research, Robin crafts a fascinating tale that captures the resiliency, determination, and spirit of his mother and her siblings as they overcome hardship and go on to make their own indelible marks in the world.