June 1, 2004
Papa Didn’t Preach: Words of Wisdom for Daddy’s Girls Slated for Release This Month
Jasper County native Vasilisa C. Hamilton announces the publication of her first book, Papa Didn’t Preach: Words of Wisdom for Daddy’s Girls, in time for Father’s Day 2004.
By turns amusing and insightful, Papa Didn’t Preach captures the life lessons Ms. Hamilton learned from her Dad, the late Merritt Hamilton. Hamilton, son of the late Lillian T. and Solomon P. Hamilton Jr., died in 1999 at age 73 after working a full day on the farm he loved. Hamilton’s Farm Fresh Produce, the business he owned and operated with his wife, Colleton County native Alneatha Salley, was well known throughout the South Carolina Lowcountry and the Central Savannah River Area. Their agribusiness was profiled in a 1995 edition of Carolina Farmer magazine.
Papa Didn’t Preach captures the warmth and humor of a father who, in the words of his daughter’s introduction, was “a giant in my eyes and in the eyes of everyone who knows him.”
“Dad and I exchanged jokes, newspaper clippings, old and new music, and had some of our best conversations while riding around Point South-Pocotaligo, Buckfield and Mackay’s Point plantations, Sugar Loaf Island, and Yemassee in the Ford pickup he used on his farm, or in my two-toned Mercury Lynx,” Ms. Hamilton recalled.
“The life lessons in my book are some of the ideas Dad cultivated in me,” she said. “Dad was my best friend. He was the only man who never disappointed me. Writing this book was therapeutic because I realize that Dad is tilling the soil and keeping everyone in stitches in a much a better place.”
The lessons in Papa Didn’t Preach are divided into categories such as “Personal Ethics,” “Practical Living,” and “Dating and Romance.” Lesson #1 is Be a man or woman of your word, while lesson #9 admonishes, Don’t think you’re better than others if you’re suddenly chopping in “high” cotton. Lesson #18 advises readers to remain connected to family and loved ones all the time, not just when bad things happen, or in seasons of distress and grief.
“This is a book that only a simple farm girl from Pocotaligo could write,” Vasilisa said, emphasizing that hers is an American story first and foremost.
Vasilisa will do a reading and book signing from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, June 18, at The Happy Bookseller, 4525 Forest Drive, Columbia. For more information call 803-782-2665, 800-787-1503, or go to www.happybookseller.com.
