DELL CITY, Okla. - It's not often an entire book is written about a former Kosciusko County resident.

But Gayle Goodman, of Dell City, Okla., spent more than 10 years putting the life of Fred Olds into a book scheduled to be released the first week of November.

The book - "Portrait of An American" chronicles Olds' life since birth as he told it to her. Olds, 87, now lives is Guthrie, Okla.

"It's been so long ago," Olds said Thursday via a telephone interview, of the last time he visited the Warsaw area.

In a separate interview Thursday, Goodman said the book came about over a cup of coffee in 1991 in Oklahoma, across the street from Tinker Air Force Base.

Members of the Historical Committee of Tinker's Strategic Arts Alliance were having coffee there with Olds. Olds was helping the committee restore a historic mural at the base in the headquarters building.

Olds began telling the group his stories from World War II. Someone remarked that Olds' stories should be written down, and Goodman was nominated.

"We were just out (having coffee)," said Goodman. "It wasn't a planned thing."

Goodman took her tape recorder and visited Olds at his residence and began taping his memoirs. At first, she said, she thought the stories would just be recorded and not much more. But at one point, off-handedly, she asked Olds if she could write a book about him. He agreed.

One thing that Olds made sure Goodman included was his stories and memories of Warsaw and Winona Lake.

"You could tell he really loved it up there," Goodman said. More than 49 names of people from Warsaw and Winona Lake are mentioned in the book, she said.

The people of Warsaw and Winona Lake will be interested in her book, she said, "because it will bring up memories." She said Olds talked about his Indiana homes so much, it will make readers want to visit the area.

Frederick Albert Olds was the first child of Dr. Frederick Cutler Olds and Ina Lorena Garriot Olds. He was born April 27, 1916, in Fremont, Ohio. When Fred was a small boy, his parents left Ohio and moved to Warsaw, where Dr. Olds established a medical practice. Dr. Olds was a highly respected member of the community, according to Goodman's book, and his patients included everyone from the local society matrons to the town.

When Fred was about 5 or 6 years old, the Oldses moved from Warsaw to Winona Lake.

According to an excerpt from the book, "The Olds family lived only a short distance from the famous evangelist Billy Sunday, who lived in a large house that had a nearby grotto. Fred said people could go inside the grotto and walk down to a spring-fed pool of water that had goldfish swimming in it. Fred was fascinated with this grotto and with Billy Sunday, too.

"Presbyterian Billy Sunday had been a professional baseball player and alcoholic, who had conquered the demon rum and was hell-bent to conquer the devil himself by preaching the gospel and saving the souls of his fellow man."

Other good friends at Winona Lake included the Rodeheaver family. In addition, the book relates Olds' memories of going to church in Winona Lake and Warsaw; his best friend Dave Ramsay of Warsaw; and teaching and coaching for Warsaw schools, among other stories.

But besides the Warsaw-Winona Lake connection, Goodman said, the best part of the book for her are Olds' World War II stories.

During his interview, Olds spoke about his memories of teaching, traveling across the country and breeding horses.

"The horse interest was very strong," he said.

Of World War II, he said, "It was a weird war. It seemed like we made more friends of the enemies. The Germans didn't want to fight Americans. They wanted to come to America."

Today, Olds said, he is still teaching at public schools "in a big way." He teaches drawing and often is asked to do art shows at schools, he said. Sculpture is another topic he speaks to university and public school students about.

"I enjoy it very much," he said. Kids want to know about drawing and sculpting.

Olds' interest in art goes way back.

Just before he left Warsaw, before World War II, Olds said, he signed a contract with Walt Disney for $35 per week to make animated movies. He never met Walt Disney, but said he spoke to Disney once on the phone and received numerous letters.

Orders for the book may be mailed to "The Fred Olds Book" P.O. Box 94274, Oklahoma City, OK 73143-4274. Cost is $40 plus $3 shipping.

The book, according to Goodman, is dedicated to the American people "who grew up in the 20th century and shared many of the experiences experienced by Fred Olds."

Of the book, Olds said, "I would have done it had someone else not asked."

He said he thinks he has a lot of interesting stories to share. [[In-content Ad]]