To her, it was heaven.
“My Heaven in Hells Canyon” (Outskirts Press, 226 pg.) is the title of a book written and edited by Shirley’s nieces, Claudia Wilson, of Riggins, and Kay Coffman, of Boise, who collected Shirley’s pioneer stories of folk medicine in the wild, visits by Nez Perce Indians, harvesting sturgeon and more. Shirley, who was the fourth of eight children raised at Saddle Creek, died in 2010 in Salem, Ore. Before she died, Wilson and Coffman recorded her stories, collected photos and edited them chronologically.
“They just had such an interesting lifestyle,” Wilson said. “One of my biggest passions of the book was trying to relay what was life like in that era and in that location, trying to show someone in New Jersey what Hells Canyon was like; it wasn’t like “Little House on the Prairie.”
Wilson and Coffman will sign copies of the book from 1-3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12 at And Books Too, 918 Sixth St., Clarkston. The event will also include Bill Wilson, of Boise, signing copies of “A Hells Canyon Romance,” the life story of his late mother, Murielle McGaffee Wilson, who grew up in Riggins and in Hells Canyon. Bill Wilson is Claudia Wilson’s brother-in-law.
