~Strictly a Loner~ My Life and Times With Plattsburgh's Poorest Millionaire
Earl enjoying a bowl of ice cream at the Senior Center.
In this off-beat yet personal memoir, Plattsburgh author and retired Air National Guardsman Kathy L. Baumgarten reminisces about "inheriting" a millionaire along with her purchase of an old rooming house. The tale unfolds near the old Plattsburgh Air Force Base in Northern New York.
Plattsburgh readers have never seen a story like this about their city...but this could have taken place in any small city or town in America. During a seven year period in the 1990's, Earl, a quiet old loner and military retiree from the South, slowly endeared himself to the new owners of his rooming house. Sometimes just an amusing curmdgeon, he confounded and tortured the author with his unusual habits, which she shares here with readers, as well as how he made his fortune. Always dignified, nonetheless he retained an air of secrecy about his past, keeping his distance from the people who saw him every day on the streets of Plattsburgh.Truly, he was a man that everyone saw, and no one really knew.
A story never told before,Strictly A Loneris not merely the true account of a retired Air Force TSgt, reclusive hoarder and secret millionaire. This memoir also serves as a vehicle to examine society’s attitudes toward money, family, mental illness, and aging. Folks in Northern New York State, Northwestern Vermont and Southern Quebec may have read portions of Earl’s story when it was serialized in 2007 in the pages of The Lake Champlain Weekly.
Popular demand to hear even more about Earl has inspired this expanded paperback version. With never-before seen photographs and more tales, Strictly a Loner is a real page-turner which will draw you right in with a pleasantly surprising amount of local color, humor, drama and suspense.
LOCATIONS APPEARING IN THE TEXT: Monroe, LA; Scott AFB, ILL.; Vandenberg AFB, CA.; Keesler AFB, MS.; Burlington, VT.; Boulder, CO.; Australia, Northern NY towns of Ausable Forks, Champlain, Dannemora, Ellenburg, Mooers Forks, Peasleeville, Swastika and Saranac. And of course, Plattsburgh AFB, NY and the Skyway Plaza.
Earl- the man everyone saw and nobody really knew...
This webpage was created on 21 November, 2007. Copyright 2007 strictlyaloner.com No part of this website may be reused without the author's signed consent. Contact OldOneChannel@aol.com This site was last updated on 21 May 2008.
