Book Launch of Take Me Home to Woodstock by Sally Cissna

Join us for the book launch of Take Me Home to Woodstock by Sally Cissna! Perfect for fans of our town's history in the early 1900s!

Book Summary:
John Wienke of Woodstock, Illinois, is looking for a wife and Ida Doering of Racine, Wisconsin, has all but given up on finding a husband. Mutual friends step in, and soon Ida and John are engaged in a long-distance courtship through letters, trips on the new electric train, and the newfangled contraption called a telephone. Eventually, Ida can stand it no more. She gives John an ultimatum, and the date is set. But moving to Woodstock means beginning a whole new life including moving in with John’s mother. Now with John’s job at the typewriter factory in question and the possibility of a baby on the way, John and Ida must decide whether to face the hardships of the new century together – or apart.

The story of John, Ida, and their German immigrant families is told through narration, actual newspaper accounts from The Woodstock Sentinel and The Racine Times Journal, and letters sent over the years. Take Me Home to Woodstock engages the reader in the day-to-day life, the trials and tribulations, the celebrations and joys of life in early Woodstock.

Author Bio:
Sally Cissna was born in Woodstock, Illinois, but it wasn’t until she began researching her roots that she came to understand how strongly she felt about the city and her connections to it. Her grandparents, John and Ida Wienke, left an imprint on Woodstock that Ms. Cissna has discovered through research into The Woodstock Sentinel, old family letters, and stories from her childhood.

Sally is a Renaissance woman and perpetual student with bachelor’s degrees in history, architectural engineering. communication and divinity. She has worked as a medial secretary, a technical support engineer, traveling minister, and a college professor teaching a myriad of courses at five universities in southern Wisconsin, but most specifically Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Sally has always had a soft spot in her heart for her first love history. She has been especially drawn to the forgotten history of women in small town life. In her book, Take Me Home to Woodstock: A Novel, she brings together her love of history, technology, religion and family. When her short story, “Come Home, Peter,” was published in the anthology, Family Stories from the Attic, she realized that there was much more of the story to tell. “Come Home, Peter,” was one year in the life, 1930, of the Wienke family in Woodstock, Illinois. Take Me Home to Woodstock takes the family back to the year 1900.

Luckily, Sally has been the family packrat and was able to dive into a treasure trove of letters and other documents boxed up in anticipation of retirement’s leisure. A lover of research and libraries, Sally has used the Woodstock library collections along with on-line sources and her own stockpile to piece together the story as the Wienkes participate in growing of the village of Woodstock.