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Product ID : 9781792364143
An Iowa Farm Boy's Odyssey: Priest, Parent, Professor
Price: $17.95
Description
By Jim Freiburger
Were you ever told as a child “that’s just a kite dream? That will never happen”? Well, this Iowa farm boy’s kite dreams did happen, maybe not all as he expected them to unfold. Sitting on a tree stump he tethered the string on the kite as it dipped and dived with dreams that would shape his odyssey. Jim Freiburger lived his early years with the dream of being a farmer like his father, absorbed by the world of animals, fields and a culture of Catholic religious practices. Then his kite dreams guided him beyond the fences of the farm.
He studied pre-med through high school and college, following a new dream of becoming a doctor. Before that could happen, however, the kite pulled him in a different direction with the string holding fast to his roots. After acceptance into medical school he made an unanticipated decision to enter the Catholic seminary. He saw two of those kite dreams come true during his seminary and priesthood years, He followed the kite to earn a graduate degree at the University of Notre Dame and cheered the Fighting Irish football team. Then he followed another dream and studied at the University of San Francisco.
After leaving the priesthood, Jim eventually married, had a family, and followed his dream to live in New England as husband, father and grandfather. Teaching International students greatly expanded his world view and enhanced the values of his Iowa farm boy days. From farm boy to grandfather, to professor, Jim’s kite dreams shaped his unexpected odyssey.
Were you ever told as a child “that’s just a kite dream? That will never happen”? Well, this Iowa farm boy’s kite dreams did happen, maybe not all as he expected them to unfold. Sitting on a tree stump he tethered the string on the kite as it dipped and dived with dreams that would shape his odyssey. Jim Freiburger lived his early years with the dream of being a farmer like his father, absorbed by the world of animals, fields and a culture of Catholic religious practices. Then his kite dreams guided him beyond the fences of the farm.
He studied pre-med through high school and college, following a new dream of becoming a doctor. Before that could happen, however, the kite pulled him in a different direction with the string holding fast to his roots. After acceptance into medical school he made an unanticipated decision to enter the Catholic seminary. He saw two of those kite dreams come true during his seminary and priesthood years, He followed the kite to earn a graduate degree at the University of Notre Dame and cheered the Fighting Irish football team. Then he followed another dream and studied at the University of San Francisco.
After leaving the priesthood, Jim eventually married, had a family, and followed his dream to live in New England as husband, father and grandfather. Teaching International students greatly expanded his world view and enhanced the values of his Iowa farm boy days. From farm boy to grandfather, to professor, Jim’s kite dreams shaped his unexpected odyssey.
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Product Reviews
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Reviewed by Jimf
Jimf bought "An Iowa Farm Boy's Odyssey: Priest, Parent, Professor"
on our website
08/24/2021 - 08:04:54 AM
Fred Feldman
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2021
Anyone who grew up reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books or watched the television series The Waltons about a family living through the 1930's of the depression and the World War 2 era will love this book. How many can so authoritatively speak of how the early Midwest was settled and how they saw the landscape of America change? How many can so successfully speak of the changes that shaped America from the 19th to the 21st century with the impact on careers and family life?
Despite his father’s dream that he inherit the family land and become a farmer, he educates himself, gets accepted to medical school, instead becomes a beloved priest, but struggles with the restrictions of religious laws, and ultimately becomes a successful Professor Emeritus of leadership studies with students of all races and religions and in demand for teaching in countries around the world.
Wonderfully written and replete with endearing pictures, the book is more than a document of the changes the country has encountered, it is above all a story of perseverance, a story of family support and family love that deserves to be on every bookshelf. It is a story I want my own grandchildren to read.
If you don’t read this, you do not know what a treasure you’re missing.
Fred Feldman
Anyone who grew up reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books or watched the television series The Waltons about a family living through the 1930's of the depression and the World War 2 era will love this book. How many can so authoritatively speak of how the early Midwest was settled and how they saw the landscape of America change? How many can so successfully speak of the changes that shaped America from the 19th to the 21st century with the impact on careers and family life?
Despite his father’s dream that he inherit the family land and become a farmer, he educates himself, gets accepted to medical school, instead becomes a beloved priest, but struggles with the restrictions of religious laws, and ultimately becomes a successful Professor Emeritus of leadership studies with students of all races and religions and in demand for teaching in countries around the world.
Wonderfully written and replete with endearing pictures, the book is more than a document of the changes the country has encountered, it is above all a story of perseverance, a story of family support and family love that deserves to be on every bookshelf. It is a story I want my own grandchildren to read.
If you don’t read this, you do not know what a treasure you’re missing.
Fred Feldman
Reviewed by Jimf
Jimf bought "An Iowa Farm Boy's Odyssey: Priest, Parent, Professor"
on our website
08/24/2021 - 08:01:12 AM
LDW - Author, writing instructor, Coach
An extraordinary life
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2021
Jim Freiburger weaves together the strands of his extraordinary life in this memoir about the homes we carry with us: the Iowa farm that rooted him in community values, the seminary that expanded his sense of brotherhood and mission, and the home in Manchester, NH, where he was able to reconcile the multiple lives he’d led. Through every step of the journey, Jim’s humor, empathy, and open-mindedness lead him into unusual encounters—and often mischief. Whether he’s smoking in the school privy as a boy, convincing bartenders to send troubled couples his way as a priest, or teaching his kids to host a Halloween
block party, Jim shows us all how to lead a memorable life.
Leah Damian Williams
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2021
Jim Freiburger weaves together the strands of his extraordinary life in this memoir about the homes we carry with us: the Iowa farm that rooted him in community values, the seminary that expanded his sense of brotherhood and mission, and the home in Manchester, NH, where he was able to reconcile the multiple lives he’d led. Through every step of the journey, Jim’s humor, empathy, and open-mindedness lead him into unusual encounters—and often mischief. Whether he’s smoking in the school privy as a boy, convincing bartenders to send troubled couples his way as a priest, or teaching his kids to host a Halloween
block party, Jim shows us all how to lead a memorable life.
Leah Damian Williams
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