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A poignant personal memoir, Out of My Hands presents the story of Harold Chapman, a midwestern boy whose difficult life begins in the grip of one of the worst influenza outbreaks in history. With his mother dead, seven-year-old Harold must take on the care of his siblings-who soon increase in number when his father and the nanny he hired to help them produce a seventh, then an eighth, child. But tuberculosis and a disastrous move out west weaken Harold's father, leaving Harold responsible for getting the farming and ranching work done. Extended family, friends, and community always come to the aid of Harold's struggling family, and Harold's maternal grandparents play a significant role in their lives, instilling values and imparting the skills the children will need to survive during the Great Depression. Harold becomes a breadwinner early in life and as a teenager works at a gas station, a repair shop, and a dairy farm as well as in the cornfields and hayfields of Illinois doing menial labor. An often-humorous tale of hope and perseverance, Out of My Hands was written by Harold's son, Gary Chapman, based on Harold's first-person stories about growing up, helping his family, and overcoming life's inevitable obstacles.

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9781500803926

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Gary Chapman earned a Methodist license to preach when he was just sixteen years old, eventually going on to graduate from Illinois Wesleyan University and earning a doctorate of ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary. After being ordained in the United Church of Christ, Chapman spent the next thirty-five years serving three midwestern congregations. For eighteen years, he also taught numerous courses on philosophy, religion, and contemporary issues at Southeastern Community College in Iowa. Chapman is married with two children and three grandchildren.

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