 wo of our grandchildren visited us at our
Tucson home recently, Philip Kampa from Apple Valley, MN and his cousin Aleksandra, from Garden Grove, CA. Both
are ten years old. Bonnie and I enjoyed those five days together with them. One
thing that really fascinated us, though, was the amount of time these kids spent with books reading. Hour after hour
they read Nancy Drew or Goose Pimple ghost stories. It was hard to get them off the couch to come to dinner.
 Where did this interest come from? Parents, teachers, and friends, of
course. But it made me wonder about extended family influences. Could some of it be traced all the way back to
influences that took place four generations ago when Grandpa Kampa was
growing up on the farm near Duelm? Or when Grandmother was a girl in Clear
Lake? I decided to send my thoughts to you, madam editor, as my contribution to the SKI News.
My Dad, Donald J. Kampa,
would be proud of how much two of his great grandchildren love to read. He was a powerful influence on the reading
habits of his grandchildren, my kids, always talking about the latest James Michener or Irving Stone book he had
just read whenever he and Mom would visit our home. He would read aloud favorite passages that illustrated some point
of view he favored. When I was a kid he often talked of Jack London's stories.
In his later years Dad couldn't go any place without a book to carry along.
One of his legacies are the shelves and shelves of books now at our house that he left when he died. They were among the
favorite gifts he loved to give or receive.
For Dad's generation of Kampa's, reading was a cause for discussion and
argument. Occasionally when they'd get together at reunions the discussions turned to arguments that go so heated that
a brother and a sister might stay upset with each other until time and regrets restored the peace between them. But the
passion for argument must have come from an inherited Kampa family culture or genetic trait that called for an argument-induced
adrenaline rush to better digest Sunday diner. I wish I knew for sure.
Reading fueled Dad's opinions and it fed his spirit of adventure. Books
were friends and teachers that could answer questions he had about life, history and himself. As a teenager he read
London's tales of life in the wilds of Alaska and Lindbergh's story of his solo flight across the Atlantic, for example.
Readers surrounded him in the family. His sister, Frances, who taught school,
gave him many books, which are now among Dad's collection. His sister, Louise, a
retired librarian, and sister Martha, age 94, are avid readers to this day.
Grandad Joe Kampa, who only
attended grade school, was nevertheless a big newspaper reader and REALLY enjoyed the kitchen table debate. Dad used
to tell stories of the speeches and lectures delivered to the brothers and sisters at dinner by Grandpa Joe, often
with a gusto emphasized by pounding the table.
The trail of family inspired reading interests stops with
Grandpa J. L. Kampa. This is all I know.
Grandmother Magdelena may have been a reader too, but though he gave her
credit for being a strong influence on his character, I never head Dad talk about her interests in books. She was a
letter writer, though, and in the collection of her letters I see that she spent many spare moments keeping her
grown-up children current with local news.
With more research into their early lives I'm sure there is information
that tells what literature or the newspapers meant to those Benton County settlers' families.
-- provided by Dick Kampa
SKI News, 4th Edition, Summer 2000
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