Blast from the Past Update: Harlan Lebo, 1966
Harlan Lebo discovered The Happy Hollisters when he was a boy in California. His curiosity was piqued by the stories about the Hollister family and their home in Shoreham, so he wrote a letter to author Jerry West in 1966 with some questions. He also mentioned that “I want to be an author when I grow up, so maybe you could give me some ideas.”
In his reply to Harlan, Jerry West explained that both the Hollisters and Shoreham were “make-believe” but based on the activities of his own children and his travels around the world. His writing advice was simple: “I am sure you will be a good author if you really work at it once you’re grown up, and ideas will just come to you by observing people and the way they live.”
Finding Harlan in 2025 as part of our blast-from-the-past project was a sleuthing success! Many of the people who wrote to Jerry West in the 1950s and 1960s have made multiple moves, married, divorced, remarried, and some have, unfortunately, died. We usually have to dig deep into city records, real estate transactions, and even obituaries to find current contact information. Not so with Harlan: when we typed his name into Google, his name and photo popped right up, and below them, the word “Author.” Bingo!
We reached out to Harlan by email and received a response within several hours—our quickest response ever! He wrote: “What an unexpected treat to hear from you, and to learn about your grandfather! Yes, I am the Harlan Lebo who wrote to him in 1966, and I do remember writing the letter and being thrilled by receiving his response (I still have the letter in my files).
“While I remember writing, I am mildly surprised to hear that I was expressing interest so early in being an author . . . but I did indeed go in that direction, and I have been involved in public service communications, journalism, and authorship for my entire career. In fact, you reach me on a ‘milestone weekend’ – with any luck, I will be finishing the last chapter of my next book tomorrow.
“Thank you so much for reviving such a pleasant memory!”
Following this exchange, Harlan also visited our Facebook page, where he saw an excerpt about thunder eggs from The Happy Hollisters and the Castle Rock Mystery. In a follow-up email, Harlan remembered how, “as a 10-year-old rock collector, it made a huge impression. The idea of a beautiful stone hidden within a shell made me desperate to get a thunder egg, and a year or so later, I got my first. . . My compliments to you for taking on such an ambitious project. I hope it helps to reinforce for your family what an important role Andrew had in shaping the lives of young, enthusiastic readers.”
This project has clearly demonstrated to us that Andrew’s influence went well beyond simply encouraging children to read. Many of the “children” we have reconnected with through this project grew up to become teachers, librarians, medical professionals, scientists, and sign-language interpreters. Some aspired to have large, happy families like the Hollisters. Nearly everyone that we’ve reconnected with has reported that they remained avid readers into adulthood. We believe that their early love of reading and a few simple words of encouragement from an admired adult may have kickstarted their dreams. Andrew would be absolutely floored to learn about Harlan’s accomplishments as an author.
What interesting conversations the two of them would have about being a writer and how the world has changed since 1966! We are very grateful that we were able to reconnect with Harlan, and we wish him all the best for continuing success as an author!
