Betty Brewer spent 27 years of her life caring for her mother, daddy, step-daddy and husband.

Her husband, Art, died from Alzheimer’s in 1996, after years of progressive decline, six years short of their 50th wedding anniversary.

“I think we are supposed to take care of our own,” Brewer said. “You take time to listen and you care.”

During her husband’s illness, she kept a journal that eventually became her first book, “In the Midst of the Raging Storm.”

“It was typed on my Selectric II typewriter over there,” she said, pointing to the classic IBM typewriter.

Brewer also writes poetry and teaches the ladies Sunday School class at the Gospel Light Church.

She has recently published a second book, “Drawn to Buck Creek,” that “releases a portrait that produced a true story of seven siblings who were overcomers during childhood and young adult years.”

“This story sat in the recesses of my mind for more than 20 years, but when mother was dying, I asked if I could write it all down and she said yes. It was a journey that took me two and a half years.”

Brewer grew up in Lamar County, the oldest daughter of a sharecropper who moved his family from farm to farm.

“Daddy worked hard and he made sure we worked just as hard as he did,” she recalled. “We all went to the fields to pick cotton. My next younger sister was sent at age 7.”

The Brewer siblings grew up with a loving mother “who had true grit” and a father, who was mentally and physically abusive to them all.

“God, in his appointed time, taught us to discern the Treasures of Darkness mentioned in Isaiah 45:3. I learned to trust and walk with Him and to serve Him.”

The book contains a photograph of the house the family moved to when Brewer was 13.

“There were nine of us living in a two-bedroom house that had no insulation and only a wood stove and one 40-watt bulb for us to use to do our homework by. We slept three to a bed to keep warm.”

“Today I understand God was working then. He didn’t let us freeze to death, and continues his work with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

“Sometimes our past is filled with hurt. By not dealing with our past, our hurts never get resolved and the devil will use the concealment of your past to fill your life with guilt, defeat and misery.

“I want the Lord to take hold of this and get it to the ones that need it,” Brewer said.

Drawn to Buck Creek is available at Amazon.com and local bookstores.

Betty Brewer will sign and sell copies of her book at the Helena Library on Saturday, Dec. 11.

Laura Brookhart can be reached by e–mail at labro16@yahoo.com.