When Lompoc resident Jill Schaefer placed a stack of papers—her memoirs—into a drawer many years ago, she was simply closing the door on a flurry of creative activity. She was glad to have gotten her story out of her head and wasn’t sure what she’d do with it next.
“Next” turned out to be much later, but eventually resulted in Up the Wooden Hill, a book that highlights parallel stories of her childhood growing up in England during World War II and that of her husband growing up in Nazi Germany.
Schaefer starting writing the book when she and her husband semi-retired. She started taking a writing class, in which she was asked to write a story a week.
“A lot of those stories were about growing up during World War II,” Schaefer said. “Soon I had a whole bunch of stories, and eventually I thought I would get my husband to tell a parallel story.”
Schaefer’s husband Horst wrote his own story about growing up in Nazi Germany. The two stories would later become Up the Wooden Hill. But at the time, Schaefer just knew she had to write.
After her first effort, she continued chronicling how she originally came to California in her second, soon-to-be-published book. She also wrote another book about her and her husband’s eventual move from England and Germany to the United States, and their lives as owners of a motel and bakery in Goleta. She wrote so much during that time, she was happy when she no longer had anything to write.
“I was in that writing spirit, and the floodgates poured into me and I had to get it out,” she explained. “It was painful. I felt like, ‘Stop this. Give me some peace.’”
She said the process was thrilling but draining. Over a period of six months, she produced three books. Then she quietly tucked them away. Until recently. When her daughter-in-law Michelle needed something to read on a long drive, Schaefer pulled out her manuscript. Upon her return, her daughter-in-law urged Schaefer to publish it.
Schaefer was also encouraged to rewrite the typewritten pages into a book because she was caring for her oldest son, Stefan, who had terminal cancer at 50. As she transcribed each piece, she would e-mail it to him so he could read about his parents’ lives. He died shortly after reaching the end of the book. Schaefer’s book was complete, and she began publishing it with a local printer and selling it.
She said she’s met so many people who can relate to her youth during World War II or who remember stories from their parents.
“I have found so many people who have a connection with that time period,” Schaefer said.
But mostly she’s happy that her story has finally been told.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is full of stories, too. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2011.