It was 26 years ago last night that Mom and I sat next to my father’s hospital bed and said goodbye to him. I told him he had been a wonderful father, that I loved him, and that is was okay to move on. I’m not sure I said follow the light exactly, but I kept talking to him, even after his heart monitor went flat. I always wondered what the nurses in ICU thought. For the next week I could feel my father’s love engulf me. And even now, decades later, he is never far from my thoughts or heart.
When I started the Haunting Danielle series, I wanted a name for my resident ghost appropriate for his generation. While my father was young enough to be Walt Marlow’s son, his name Walt was a common one for the twenties. It seemed fitting to give my ghost Dad’s first name.
But, I didn’t just give him Dad’s first name, I gave him his middle name too. Like Walt Marlow, my father’s name is Walter Clint—and like Walt Marlow, he always went by Walt, instead of Walter.
I can’t say Walt Marlow’s personality was patterned after my father—he wasn’t. However, they do share one trait. Readers seem to like Walt—many even claiming they have fallen a little in love with him.
People also liked my father—they wanted to spend time with him. Even today, over a quarter of a century after his death, I often hear people who knew him share their “Walt” stories.
I like to think Dad would get a kick out of Walt Marlow being named after him. Miss you Dad, and Merry Christmas.
(Photo: Dad, sisters, Lynn & Bobbi)
If you’ve read The Ghost of Christmas Secrets—or the first Haunting Danielle Christmas book, The Ghost Who Came for Christmas, you might remember reading about Danielle’s Chocolate Drop cookies—and how all of her friends love them.
Chocolate Drop cookies are a real thing—they are borrowed from my paternal grandmother, Madeline Clint Johnson Wilkey. Grandma Madeline was an amazing cook, and in our family her chocolate drop cookies were legendary. Each Christmas she would bring over a roasting pan filled with homemade chocolate chip and chocolate drop cookies. For someone like my father, who had a serious sweet tooth, he was always dipping into the roasting pan to snag a cookie.
I’ve posted the recipe before, so here’s the link, if you would like to try baking them this Christmas. As I mentioned in the last book, the original recipe called for raw egg to be added to the frosting, which I substituted for another liquid because today’s raw eggs aren’t as safe to eat as they were in Grandma’s day.
Like Danielle reminds her friend when sharing the recipe, be careful not to overbake!