Ozarks Life: Barry County author pens Echoes from Ozarks

MCDOWELL, Mo. (KY3) - There’s a home near a peaceful stretch outside of McDowell that is literally timeless.

“I didn’t set out to collect clocks,” Mark Meadow said. “I don’t consider myself to be a clock collector.”

For almost 60 years, Mark has handled hands, kept gears clear, and cleaned the chime over time. He has about 50 clocks in his home and most are key-wound every Monday.

“Monday, they’re striking all exactly the same time and making an uproar,” Mark said. “But then they always gradually get off.”

Yes, inside 79-year-old Mark Meadows’ home time doesn’t stand still... But inside his book, there are stories of times gone by.

“That book has 82 stories,” Mark said. “That’s fewer than half of my stories that I have on the computer.”

The book is called, Echoes from the Ozarks - Memories of the Missouri Hills.

Mark has tales of growing up with outhouses, how his parents used a little whiskey and sugar to calm an ailment, and another called “The Great Denture Adventure.”

“Tony’s upper teeth flew across the room,” Mark read.

Mark has been described as a current-day Mark Twain. He credits his mom for his love of writing.

When he left home, Mark’s mom would write him a six-page letter every week and he would write back. That continued until Mark returned to the Ozarks 40 years ago.

“I didn’t decide to write a book,” Mark said, “I just didn’t have to write letters to mom anymore and felt this compulsion to write.”

“I don’t know how many people I sent those emails to with a funny story that would say, ‘Why don’t you collect your stories in a book,’” Mark said.

And those stories, while humdrum for some, are hilarious to most. It’s thanks to the way Mark can spin a yarn and find the funny in the smallest of moments.

It’s that humor of an Ozarks author that weaves throughout the book like the pendulum tick of one of his clocks.

“My parents saw the humor and everything,” Mark said. “They were always laughing, even at themselves.”

“My mother lacked two months being 100 when she died,” Mark added. “I think that long life was partly due to the fact that she laughed at everything.”

Mark says a good laugh will lower your blood pressure which is good for your heart.

You can find Mark’s book, Echoes from the Ozarks: Memories of the Missouri Hills on Amazon.

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