BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE AUTAUGA NEWS
Bryan Mosher, of Prattville, is living proof that a good sense of humor and a great imagination can get you through many troubles in life.
Today Bryan is a children’s book author, living quietly in Prattville with his beloved wife Judy. He writes under the pen name Dilbert “Dill” Pickles. Most of his books are based on true events and involve himself and his “imaginary” friend Joey. They have some stories to tell, indeed.
But he is currently working on two new books of fiction, The first and available this summer under his own name Bryan Keith Mosher is about child trafficking and moving captives along the old underground railroad. The book also depicts the way grandparents play a vital role in raising grandchildren.
The second novel involves a young man growing up near the end of World War II in Germany where he is forced to leave his family and the love of his life to serve in the German submarine force. His captain is ruthless and violates all the rules of war and human decency. He gets captured and becomes one of over 350,000 prisoners of war at camps throughout the United States.
Bryan grew up in a small town in upstate New York. His father abandoned the family, leaving his mom to raise him and his three sisters. His leaving forced the family to move in with his grandparents. Before his mom got fully adjusted to the move, his baby sister, Bonnie, was diagnosed with Leukemia and died two days later.
Bonnie had been Bryan’s play partner and he two older sisters wanting nothing to do with a five-year-old brother. Bryan quickly overcame being alone by creating his own imaginary friend.
And that is where the Joey adventures really began, along with some hilarious shenanigans of a precocious young boy.
Soon his sisters were renamed Miss Smarty Pants One and Miss Knows It All Two.
Among his many books, the tales are told of when the FBI was called because Bryan and Joey believed the new neighbors were actually Russian spies and were up to no good. The FBI came, asked some questions and it was learned that, in fact, the family next door was in fact Russian, but were there for another mission, just not exactly what Bryan and Joey had envisioned.
Then there was the time that Bryan and Joey took one of his mother’s best and favorite dress shoes, decorating it up with glitter and Christmas ornaments. It was part of a school assignment. But when his mother realized one of her shoes was missing, she was devastated.
Times were tough and money slim. Finally, the story came out of what had happened to her shoe. Years after her death, Bryan said he learned that while she was very angry at what had happened, she kept the single, remaining shoe in a box until her death.
Bryan said his grandfather raised milk-fed pumpkins, that would grow to an extraordinary size. He knew that his grandfather worked very hard on his one-acre garden, and it was his pride and joy. To try and make things easier, Bryan and Joey kidnapped a neighbor’s cow, and staked it closer to the pumpkins. The thought was his grandfather would have quick access to milk. It is the thought that counts, right? Joey thought so.
As Bryan grew, he joined the Navy at 17 right out of high school in the Navy’s hardest academic program, nuclear power. The program had a 70 percent dropout rate. He later married and had a child with his first wife.
It was during another deployment to the Indian Ocean during the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979-80. However, it was during his time away that he learned his then-wife had left him.
But without that happening, he would never have found the real love of his life, Judy. – a girl from back home, just down the street, and someone he had known all of his life.
The two often played together as children. They both entered the Navy on the same day and began their individual journeys. But their paths crossed again when both were back in their hometown. It was the beginning of their love story.
Judy had one son, named Brian. Together the two had one other child. “You could say it really is yours, mine and ours,” Bryan said.
Bryan eventually retired from the Navy. Judy went to work with American Express Financial Services as an executive secretary. Bryan worked in nuclear engineering and went to work with General Electric. He oversaw the operation of power plants in Mississippi, Nebraska, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Eventually his job brought him and JUDY to Prattville, where today they are members of Season’s church, and have a deep love of all things southern.
“We love the people, and we love our church,” Bryan said. “We are very happy here.”
When Bryan was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, everything changed for him being able to work. The treatments saved him but cost him a lot physically and he retired. To spend the time and keep his mind occupied, he began writing. He realized he had to write what he knew, and so began the series of children’s books.
“I also had grandkids by this time, and I wanted them to know what it was like when I grew up, and also leave a legacy for my family,” Bryan said.
Fifteen books, so far, have been written, and he is actively still writing.
Before the pandemic, Bryan stayed busy selling his books at craft shows and other events. “With my physical limitations, it can be rough trying to do that now.”
But his books are available by contacting him directly. He only charges $10 per book, and admittedly most times is happy to give them to people who show an interest. You can contact Bryan at his email [email protected]
If you ask Bryan, he does agree that he is thankful for a sense of humor. He had a lot of struggles in his life. He was involved in a helicopter crash and injured, he was shot during an armed robbery at a convenience store, just to name a couple.
But he is very happy that he was able to reconnect with his biological father. It was a brief reunion. While Bryan was still in the Navy, the Red Cross contacted him to let him know his father was dying and wanted to see him.
“I thought a lot about whether or not I wanted to see him, but eventually I did make the trip,” Bryan said.
The two were able to talk through what had happened and catch up as much as possible in a few short hours before Bryan’s dad died, with Bryan at his side. “I have some peace about it. We said all the things that needed to be said.”
Bryan maintained a relationship with his father’s then wife until her death and claimed her as part of his family.
