Author goes ‘Beyond Barron’ in latest memoir

The author who took readers on a tour of Barron County life in the 1940s and 50s via “Back to Barron” and later around the globe and through time with “Journey by the Book: A Guide to Tales of Travels” is back with his latest book, “Beyond Barron: A Memoir.”

Daniel E. Van Tassel grew up in Barron as one of six pastor’s kids living in the parsonage of First Lutheran Church, where his father was minister. He said he knew people of all ages spending parts of his summers at a Bible camp on Prairie Lake and Boy Scout camp at Haugen, and swimming in the Yellow River.

The small-town pastor’s kid left Barron County to attend college in Northfield, Minnesota, where he graduated from St. Olaf, following up with M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in literature from the University of Iowa. He taught at various universities, but returned to Northfield in his retirement with his wife, Rhoda.

Van Tassel had returned to Barron County in 2009 and 2010 to celebrate the publication of “Back to Barron” and considered his visits to Barron, Rice Lake, Chetek and Cumberland to be a “mega-reunion.” He followed that up with a visit to promote “Back to Barron” and about a year ago he returned to tell readers about “Journey by the Book: A Guide to Tales of Travels.”

Now Van Tassel is scheduled to visit the public libraries in Barron and Rice Lake to present “Beyond Barron,” a second volume of his memoir he began with “Back to Barron.”

“My motivation for undertaking the upcoming author events in Barron and Rice Lake is to share firsthand with the citizens of Barron County my full-life story of growing up in Barron and going on to live and work in other localities in the USA and abroad,” Van Tassel said.

The education and careers of him and his wife are the “defining threads in the tapestry making up our lives together,” he said. “Beyond Barron” takes readers into details about their lives regarding homes, non-academic work, hobbies, pets, recreational activities and travels, among many other topics.

“The recital of lifelong involvements after Barron is recorded with humor and pertinent anecdotes in the books being presented,” Van Tassel said. “Our return to Barron is as an opportunity to present three books of mine comprising an expanded memoir.

“Copies of the books will be available for signing and purchase at significantly reduced prices to encourage their distribution and expand the knowledge of my legacy and the facts of my biography both during and after the formative years growing up in Barron,” he concluded.

Van Tassel and his wife will be at Barron Public Library, 10 N. Third St., at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, and at 3 p.m. at Rice Lake Public Library, 2 E. Marshall St., on the same day.

“The primary focus of the programs will be my latest book, ‘Beyond Barron,’ but we will be introducing and signing and selling copies of my other two books, ‘Back to Barron’ and ‘Journey by the Book,’” as well, the author said.