Author Janis F. Kearney will review her book “Sundays With TJ: 100 Years of Memories on Varner Road” at 10 a.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church fellowship hall, 6501 S. Hazel St.
Kearney writes in the book that her journey has been one of struggle, faith and miracles. Kearney is the daughter of cotton sharecroppers from Gould. She has worked as a journalist, presidential diarist, oral historian and author.
In the book, Kearney describes the world she has known and experienced and the lessons she has learned along the way. She writes of the harsh, often-painful years as a child in the pre-civil rights South; the magic of growing up in the Kearney household with a houseful of siblings and beautiful and wise parents; the friendship and mentorship of civil rights leader Daisy Lee Bates; and her years in a “bubble” that included six years as personal diarist to President William J. Clinton.
Kearney writes that it was during her years growing up on Varner Road that she learned the most important lesson of all: what is possible through faith and vision, and how in spite of the many stones in our paths, if we believe and work hard enough, God removes the stones and ensures our safe travels.
She chronicles the struggles, the miracles and the life lessons passed on by her parents.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The book centers on family patriarch Thomas James “TJ” Kearney, from his youth in Lake Village to his 15 years hopping trains and traveling the country and his final settling in Lincoln County with his wife Ethel Virginia Kearney.
“Sundays with TJ” emphasizes the power of faith to help two poor, under-educated parents raise 19 children, 18 of whom are college graduates from institutions across the country, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Vanderbilt, the University of Arkansas, Syracuse University and others.
The siblings include nine attorneys, two judges and two who worked for a president of the United States of America. TJ lost his wife in 1982, but lived for another 30-plus years, up to the age of 107.
Following the review, door prizes and refreshments will be furnished. The public is invited to attend.