Prologue
The Journals
Hallow Oaks, Texas
May 2119
Legends never die. Or at least that’s how the saying goes, and she certainly could vouch for its validity, particularly in the case of her great-grandparents, Malan and Lathal Hamel. (It’s been a century of generations of Hamels so there’s too many greats in front of her great-grandparent’s names so one great will suffice.)
Her great-grandparents Malan and Lathal Hamel certainly were legends and they were also famous. Maybe that’s why they became legends. My great-grandfather Malan Hamel was a famous Hollywood actor with a multitude of leading roles in a number of movies, theatrical performances, TV shows, soap operas and commercials as well as receiving a huge number of Oscars and Academy Awards to include a lifetime achievement award. Her great-grandmother Lathal Harvey, which was her maiden name, was a renowned journalist and bestselling author who penned numerous novels, stories, films, TV series and plays and she received numerous literary and journalism awards.
In addition to the celebrity of their respective professions, she believed the reason her great-grandparents, Malan and Lathal Hamel were legends and famous had a lot to do with their romantic relationship. They ranked up there with all the famous romantic couples in history to include Adam and Eve, Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra and others. Their love was true , strong, powerful and lasting. As a result there were so many stories about real life Malan and Lathal even among their own family that the real life couple who live more than 100 years ago that they became legendary and more like tall tales.
Throughout the generations, writers, historians, scholars, journalists and others have written a plethora of books, a mix of fiction and nonfiction, about her great-grandparents. The literature about them started getting published sometime during their lives but more books came out for generations and generations after their death and was still being released in the present day. But what was the truth? No one really seemed to know but someone in her family did. They knew every detail from beginning to end.
As a historian and writer, Sr. Clare Hamel believed in the power of telling stories. Everyone has a story to tell and they like their voices to be heard. Humanity communicates through its stories and they are often passed down through the generations just like the love story my great-grandparents. Stories also share culture, ideas, trends, dreams, realities, experiences, strengths, hopes and memories. Finally stories convey emotions with which every human has had and can relate, and the most common powerful, abiding emotion all of mankind has had and can relate to is love. Everyone has loved someone even though the kind and amount of love depends on the relationship with that person he or she is with. Even if the person is a complete stranger, there is still love because all are part of humanity, created by the Heavenly Father.
About three years ago, destiny, fate, maybe it was karma -- whatever it was and whatever you want to call it -- it brought Clare to North Central Texas University (NCTU) in Hallow Oaks, Texas, as a doctoral degree candidate in history. How she ended up in Texas after she earned my undergraduate degree at UCLA and her master’s degree at Harvard had to be the will of the Divine Master who called her into religious life after she graduated high school. She had lived a nun in the Franciscan Order for 15 years.
Writers focus on irony a lot and ironically Clare’s great-grandparents went to NCTU and earned all their degrees at the university in Hallow Oaks, a suburb of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. She didn’t have this epiphany until she began the process of choosing a topic to research for my doctoral thesis and book. It was then that a family member handed her her great-grandparent’s journals that they’d written in school, college and later in a dark period of their romance and marriage as well as love letters they’d written each other in Engaged Encounter.
Clare remembered her longtime college friend, fellow historian and fellow doctoral candidate in history at NCTU Tom Krantz discussing the topics and books for our PhDs. A freckle faced red haired man who many would think was Irish and Catholic but he wasn’t. Tom was single and secular. Tom was a history teacher at Goddard High and New Mexico Military Institute and worked as a historian for the UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico.
Much like her great-grandparents before they started dating and were married, she and Tom were best friends. They had been friends since they both met as undergraduates and they enjoyed being in each other’s company whether that was related to our studies or their work as historians. She and the 47-year-old New Mexican had worked together on numerous occasions and times in their professions. They like to hang out a lot; they like to laugh and talk and have some of the same favorite hobbies and activities that they often did together. Tom often teasesd that if Clare wasn’t married to God that he’d marry her; while he’s not Catholic, her colleague and best friend is a very spiritual man. As her fingers brush a rainbow colored bead rosary she’d bought in the Holy Land and had blessed by the Pope, Clare would banter back saying she’d been praying for years that God send him his forever love but since he didn’t have that kind of relationship that must not be His will yet.
They often got together multiple times a week to study, have coffee or a meal at Misty Memories near NCTU, a family-owned 1950s nostalgia restaurant where my great-grandparents had frequent dates over the years. Since he’d lived in the Southwest most of his life, Tom likes eating spicy Mexican foods and at this particular meeting the native New Mexican savored his favorite green chile chicken enchiladas topped with an over easy egg and served with refried bean, Spanish rice and homemade tortillas. The man who was my same age looked like he was in heaven as he savored each bite. When he finished eating, he regarded me, dressed in my usual Franciscan habit. “So, Clare, what topic did you decide to explore in your dissertation?”
She laid her great-grandparent’s journals and love letters on the table between them. The materials had been well cared for and were in pristine condition considering they were more than 100 years old. Malan’s and Lathal’s original handwriting was still legible. Family members had told her the journals and letters had been locked away in an air tight safe deposit box in a family vault for over the last century. The only reason this precious family heirloom had been removed was so she could use it for her doctoral dissertation.
Tom looked blown away. He pointed to the texts like they were a fairy tale, a legend or a tall tale that couldn’t possibly exist. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yep,” she confirmed clutching her great-grandparent’s journals and letters like the treasured prizes they were with pride. The nun felt truly blessed to have her great-grandparent’s love story and felt it had been God’s plan and will to tell their stories from the beginning.
“How did you get it?” Tom remarked with both envy and admiration. His fingers itched to read the manuscripts.
“It’s belonged to my family for a generation.”
Obviously Tom never realized Clare was related to the famous, legendary couple. Just because families share the same surname didn’t necessarily mean they were related. “You mean Malan and Lathal were real, not just a story?”
“Yep.” He tried reaching for the scripts. “Utt! No spoilers.” He laughed as he reluctantly backed away from my materials. “If you want to read this, you’ll just have to buy my book.” Tom had guaranteed he would her book with her doctoral dissertation that included their journals and love letters if she bought his. It had been an easy promise and deal; they shook on it. Both of their books were published a week before their graduation with their PhD in history from NCTU.
Malan and Lathal’s legacy is one filled with love, dreams, realities, experience, strengths and hopes and like so many famous legends and tall tales that the truth at least from our perspectives needs to be told, they’re meant to be shared and treasured.
