Author shares tribute to family

Author Dede Montgomery will present her new memoir, "From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood and Aging" at Paulina Springs Books on Thursday, August 8, at 6:30 p.m.

Photo provided

Dede Montgomery

Montgomery meshes passages from her mother's memoir, journals, published book, and dissertation with her own memories and how her mother's journey influenced her own in a celebration of womanhood.

Patty Montgomery was born between the World Wars and was reborn in the 1960s and 1970s during the time women pushed through the barriers to independence and equality. She followed what she believed was the expected path for other women like her who were privileged by whiteness, education, and middle-class income. Until she couldn't, and broke loose with support from some and criticism by others, while raising her only daughter to be self-confident and self-assured. "From First Breath to Last" is a treat to readers of all ages looking to embrace the wisdom from two women told through entertaining stories, fairy tales, and the advice from lives well-lived.

Dede Montgomery is a sixth generation Oregonian, blogger and author of "Humanity's Grace, Beyond the Ripples," and "My Music Man." She lives in the Portland area and works at the intersection of workplace safety, health and well-being. For more information visit https://dedemontgomery.com.

On Tuesday, August 13, Paulina Springs will host Lola Milholland as she presents her book "Group Living and Other Recipes."

Milholland brings a fascinating perspective on what we can gain when we share our living spaces and offers a compelling exploration of group living as a way of life-equal parts appealing, humorous, delicious, confounding, and, just maybe, utopian.

She had a lively upbringing in the nineties as the child of iconoclastic hippies. Her mom-energetic and intense at work and play - had spent her life revolting against the strictures of her American and Filipino upbringing. Her dad, a child of the eastern Oregon desert, was a jovial documentary filmmaker and historian who loved to collect ephemera. Both threw open the doors of the Holman House, their rambling home in Portland, Oregon, to long-term visitors and unusual guests. Years later, Milholland moved in with her brother and his housemates-an eccentric group of stop-motion animators and accomplished cooks-bringing the tradition of experimental communal living into a new generation.

Paulina Springs Books is located at 252 W. Hood Ave.