THE WEST ESSEX AARP TO FEATURE AUTHOR OF "GARFIELD'S TRAIN" AT LECTURE/BOOK SIGNING
Members of the West Essex AARP Chapter 131 will host a lecture and book signing about "Garfield's Train", by New Jersey author Feather Schwartz Foster, at 10 AM Monday, March 5, 2007.

/Seniors News Articles/ - FANWOOD, NJ, February 18, 2007 - Members of the West Essex AARP Chapter 131 will host a lecture and book signing about "Garfield's Train", by New Jersey author Feather Schwartz Foster, at 10 AM Monday, March 5, 2007. This will be the author's second appearance before the group, having lectured last year on her book, "LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities."

It has been 125 years since the death of little-known President James Garfield, who died from an assassin's bullet in 1881, only a few months into his presidency in Long Branch, New Jersey. Foster's latest book, "Garfield's Train," offers a glimpse of the Gilded Age of the 1880s in Long Branch, New Jersey, when that beautiful shore area was considered the "gilded strand." The rich and famous of that time summered in Long Branch in sprawling 30-room "cottages." "The fictional Dunbar family interacts with such characters as General Grant, Roscoe Conkling, James G. Blaine, and, of course, the Garfield family in the early 1880s," says Foster, "in order to make the characters, the times, and the episodes leading to the death of President Garfield come to life."

James A. Garfield was only president for six months - three of which were spent dying. To finally escape the heat of the Washington summer and offer the dying man some respite, he was brought to Long Branch for his last days. In a burst of patriotism and community spirit, a ¾ mile railroad spur was built overnight for the President to be brought from the train station right to the door of a cottage-by-the-sea.

According to the author, "This was arguably Long Branch's proudest hours, and for some reason, it has become a mere footnote to history. The actual historical records only indicate that it happened - not how it happened. In 'Garfield's Train', I tried to draw the picture in my mind of the entire posh resort and the way the 3,000 residents turned out to support the railroad workers in their labor of love and patriotism."

Feather Schwartz Foster has also written "LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities" about the First Ladies between Martha Washington and Mamie Eisenhower, and an e-book, entitled "On The Road With The Old Gals," about her lecturing experiences. "T: An Auto-Biography" - a children's book about a Model-T Ford has just been published. Ms. Foster has made more than 100 appearances in the New Jersey area talking about the "old" First Ladies and the Garfield Era.

Author Feather Schwartz Foster has been an "amateur" presidential historian for three decades. Following a long career in advertising and having written a score of children's musical shows, she has decided to draw on her thousand-volume personal presidential library and her love of history by penning "LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities" and "Garfield's Train". She is a Scotch Plains resident.

"Garfield's Train" is available at most online booksellers or through the author's webpage at www.featherfoster.com.

The West Essex AARP Chapter 131 meets on West Fullerton Street, Montclair, NJ.

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Feather Schwartz Foster
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