Riding in the Rumble Seat

My mother, Dorothy Elizabeth Wise Field Fech, was an undiscovered comedy writer, poet, playwright, and a most imaginative designer of schemes for the purpose of sheer entertainment and relief from a tedious life with a difficult alcoholic.

Dorothy turned everything she did into an adventure, overcoming the sheriff's sale signs nailed to the front door, water and electric shut down, no money for food, and an abusive second husband. She began her first business on a bicycle she found in trash-followed by about fifteen other businesses over time, each one with its own variety of zaniness.

She had the imagination and curiosity of a child while she juggled the realities of being a suddenly single mother of three-building a business out of thin air, making life with an abusive husband a hell of a lot of fun, raising a second crop of children, and creating a world of wonderful distraction.

Her zany letters reveal her wild mind and a secret other life from her role as mother of five siblings and door-to-door saleswoman.