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About Before We Forget: A Memoir of Montague and The Timbers Resort (Unabridged)

In 1952, Richard Smith's parents bought a rundown estate on White Lake for forty thousand borrowed dollars and turned it into a summer resort. Richard was ten. For the next eight years, he painted pools, raked leaves, learned to sail, and met hundreds of vacationers who taught him more about life than any classroom ever could. Before We Forget is a collection of true stories from Montague, Michigan — a small town where the movie theater rewound films for latecomers, where neighbors taught you to sail and take photographs, and where one young woman became Miss America with the whole community behind her. These are stories about work and family, turkey attacks, frozen toilets, broken trailers, and beauty queens. They're about paying attention, showing up, and remembering where you came from. At eighty-four, Richard Smith wrote this book because memories fade and people pass on. His wife, Edie, helped him stay honest and edited some parts before passing. What remains is legendary on her behalf: the truth, simply told. If you grew up in a small town — or wish you had — these pages will make you feel at home.