Hope to Families Dealing With Alzheimer's Offered in Parkway Grad's New Book

West County native Stefania Silvestri hopes her new book will help families dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia by sharing her own struggle as a caregiver.

Author and West County native Stefania Silvestri recently released a book she hopes will help families dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia.   (For instant news updates follow Patch on Facebook and Twitter.) "Beside the Mountain: Finding Strength and Courage Through My Father’s Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease" is Silvestri's first hand account of watching her father succumb to the disease and its affect on her family. At age 14, her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when he was only 48. She, her sisters and their mother, became his caregivers.  "I had no idea that this brain disease, that Alzheimer's Disease, could affect my dad. I had no idea that my dad would become become so childlike at the end," Silvestri tells Patch. "My mom …

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Tony La Russa Coming to West County This Week

Tony La Russa is making rounds in St. Louis on a book signing tour promoting his new book, "One Last Strike," which was released this week.

Tony La Russa fans can catch the former Cardinals manager at a number of book signings this week. (Sign up here for the FREE Patch Newsletter, including Breaking News Alerts.) You can buy La Russa's memoir "One Last Strike" at the location and La Russa will be on hand to personally sign it. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, La Russa is scheduled to appear at 5 p.m., Thursday at West County Center's Barnes & Noble in Des Peres.  He's then reportedly scheduled Friday at Stages St. Louis in Kirkwood and the St. Louis County Library headquarters. On Saturday, the Post reports La Russa will hold another book signing at 3 p.m. at the Sam’s Club in Chesterfield. Find more details on the book signing and schedule in the Post-Dispatch's …

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Award-Winning Novelist Has Fond Memories of Manchester Childhood

John Dalton tells readers how he became a writer and how one Manchester street got its name.

Novelist John Dalton’s old stomping grounds are barely recognizable these days. He grew up in what was at the time unincorporated St. Louis County, but the area has since been annexed into Manchester, and the three acres his family owned have transformed into subdivisions. But the drastic changes haven’t dulled Dalton’s fond memories of the area. “Everybody had a lot of room to run around, and all around us was open woods,” he said, speaking of the area that is now Carmen Oaks Court off of Carmen Road in Manchester. “You know, I grew up in the mid-'70s, when your parents would just say ‘be home for dinner at five o’clock’ and otherwise you just got to roam, and we would just roam everywhere," he said. "I just spent a lot of time walking in…

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Local Entrepreneurs: Their Secret to Success

Town and Country Resident Pens Childrens Book

After a successful career in advertising and academia, William Tyler wants to get kids enthusiastic about reading.

Town and Country resident William Tyler has been writing most of his life. As the vice president of advertising for Pizza Hut, he wrote ads trying to persuade people to order pizza. Throughout the last 18 years as a Saint Louis University professor, he has written dozens of academic articles on marketing and advertising. Now, with a decidedly younger reader in mind, he has penned Who Let the Mongoose Loose? Tyler’s love for writing was apparent well before he was doing it professionally. When Tyler was a child in Elizabethton, TN, he started his own version of a newspaper, which he wrote, copied (by hand) and distributed to his neighbors. The paper included an original comic strip, foreshadowing his current endeavor. Tyler’s dad was an …

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Parkway Book Sale Starts Friday Morning

The Parkway School District is holding its annual book sale this weekend.

The Parkway School District is holding its annual book sale this weekend.  The sale is Friday and Saturday at Highcroft Elementary School.   Books offer something for all ages and interests and include fiction, nonfiction, autobiographies, how-to and text books. There are more than 100,000 books available. The sale is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. Admission is free. All books cost 50 cents and most are hardback and in excellent condition.   

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Rachel Heaton

10:50 am on Friday, June 17, 2011

I just heard from a Chesterfield Patch Facebook fan that there's a lemonade stand nearby that's donating to the Red Cross Joplin relief fund. So after you make your book selections, check it out!   more ›

Lifelong Love of Fabric Leads to Quilting Career For Town and Country Woman

Hallye Bone, of Town and Country, will sign copies of her latest book, "Flower Dance," Saturday.

Geometric shapes have always fascinated Hallye Bone of Town and Country. “They have always appealed to me--just the way they go together and how there’s an infinite number of combinations of squares and triangles and other shapes” she said. Back in 1967, that fascination—plus a love of fabrics—led her to take some books out of the library and teach herself to quilt. It was a life-changing event. That little zig on the path of life—she was an English teacher at the time—launched a new career for Bone as quilting became her passion. Initially, she hand pieced and hand stitched quilts for family and friends. Eventually, she would sell her work and become an expert at quilting as well as in the care and restoration of quilts. Currently, she …

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