BUCKHANNON – Fans of “Stories of a West Virginia Doctor for Kith and Kin” and “Stories of a West Virginia Doctor’s Son” will be pleased to know that the author has done it again.
Buckhannon resident, Upshur County Board of Education member and lifelong Christian, Dr. Greenbrier Almond, is an author of many books and a psychiatrist specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder. Recently, he has completed another book, “Coping with Crisis: A West Virginia Doctor’s Perspective.”
Almond said he had fun working on this book and is happy to offer it at this time, adding that he believes “Coping With Crisis: A West Virginia Doctor’s Perspective” gives a “powerful and timely perspective on coping with crisis – while the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shakes the world.”
Almond said his odyssey with pandemics began with his ninth-grade English teacher, Elizabeth Curry.
“She had me do a paper on the Passion Play of Oberammergau,” Almond explained. “These folks prayed to be spared from the bubonic plague that was killing one in four people at the time – and they were spared. God spared them, so they said they would put on the play every 10 years forever.”
The Oberammergau Passion Play is a passion play that has been performed every 10 years since 1634 by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany. According to its website, in 1633, Oberammergau villagers promised to perform the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ every 10 years “insofar as no one was to die of the plague anymore.”
“The villagers were answered by God and therefore in 1634 the first Passion Play took place,” the Passion Play’s website says. “The promise has been kept until today.” Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Passion Play had to be postponed for two years and is next slated to run from May 14, 2020 through Oct. 2, 2022.
Almond said in 1990 when his children were ages 12 and 13 – which is approximately the same age he was when he studied about the Passion Play of Oberammergau and wrote his paper – he and his family traveled to and spent a week with the Bavarian villagers. They were able to witness the play in person, and his children’s ages coincided with the age he was when he learned about the plague and the promise of the people. His heart’s desire now is to open the eyes of his granddaughters Aliza, Harper Rose, Emilia and Camille during this pandemic while helping them discover the healing will of God.
“This book tends to be about grief and loss,” he said, adding that part of his writing comes from his grandfather’s teaching of looking on the ‘bright side.’
Almond has completed seven books and has helped with several more; in addition, he has written more than 400 columns.
“Coping with Crisis: A West Virginia Doctor’s Perspective” offers the reader many smaller stories interspersed with illustrations created by his grandchildren and a foreword written by Stan Frum, who worked with Almond at the Veteran’s Hospital in Clarksburg.
As the days get shorter and folks are searching for indoor activities, consider picking up a copy of Almond’s book to read, or to give as a gift for friends and loved ones for the holiday. “Coping with Crisis: A West Virginia Doctor’s Perspective” is available at Artistry on Main, located at 27 E. Main St. in Buckhannon; at McClain Printing Company, located in Parsons; and on Amazon.com.
