A healing book by Kim Stafford

For those of us remembering people we’ve loved and lost–like Friends of Trees Neighborhood Trees Specialist David Odom, who took his life in January–Kim Stafford’s new book, 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared, can be healing.

Kim and Bret’s father was the late poet William Stafford, and Kim runs the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College.

Bret took his life 24 years ago. In his new memoir, Kim writes about losing his brother Bret, and includes memories of the brothers’ childhood together, thoughts Kim wished he’d shared with Bret, and the many good things that his brother did.

One of those good things was planting 100 cherry trees along Country Club Road in Lake Oswego.

In this OregonLive story, Kim says, “When Bret was a student at Lake Oswego High School he convinced 300 students to plant a row of cherry trees along Country Club Road. … That’s a big thing. He got them donated, he got the police to stop traffic, he got these kids to come out on a Saturday, and those trees bloom every year. They bloom every year.”

On OPB’s Think Out Loud, Kim says of his brother: “I was just goofing off in the woods. He was going to change the world.”

Planting trees can change the world. So can writing books like 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared.

-TR