Frances R. Schmidt

SECRETS

I’ve learned many secrets in my lifetime. Some are too hot to handle. To me a secret between two people is sacred. Only sometimes they reveal themselves in unexpected ways. I believe we all have secrets and some we never share with anyone except ourselves.

I don’t think secrets are bad if they keep people from despair. I was a secret for a hundred and twenty years. Now many of my historical secrets have been revealed while others will remain hidden within my walls. They can be happy or sad depending on one’s circumstances. They can even be serious or embarrassing. Sometimes saving lives or destroying them.

To tell or not to tell a secret is a question I’ve often asked myself while telling my tenants tales. I’ve learned  what it is to be a human, although I’m really only a building with a human perspective. I’ve tried to be understanding and kind when privy to secrets. They have sometimes inspired and disillusioned me. I’ve learned to respect and at times fear knowing them.

Most of all I believe secrets can help us to survive tragic situations. And if the bearer of a powerful secret can make the world a better place, it would be worth sharing…

---

FRED’S Memory of Hope

During the past several years FRED: BUFFALO BUILDING OF DREAMS 2021 struggled to survive long enough to be published, What FRED has learned most from his culturally and ethnically diverse tenants is hard to believe and often harder to maintain.

It is the power of HOPE in the middle of desperation that kept generations of Fred’s immigrants, refugees, internal migrants, and descendants of enslaved peoples of Africa survive and thrive in America. Their hope helped them survive long enough to face their fears and cope with many losses. Fred learned first hand that hope is a powerful force that can last a lifetime.

Best,

FRED

---

What People are Saying About Violet’s Award Winning Novel

“Be All You Can Be” is the motto of the U.S.Army, and the dream of a young girl named Violet. She is no shrinking violet! Violet is full of desire, perseverance and, perhaps more importantly, filled with great self-worth. All these traits take her from street urchin to successful author. Her journey is filled with many fortuitous events, along with several hard knocks. Life is not fair! But, it’s one’s response to various circumstances that builds character and sustains one through the bumps of the journey of our life. Not a self-help book, yet the story reminds us the American Dream still exists for those who dream, create, and work hard toward a goal they have set for themselves. Truly a lovely read from beginning to end!”

Written by Theresa W.

Click Here for More Violet Book Reviews

Best,

Violet

Dear Friends and Followers:

             FRED’S VIEW OF POSITIVITY                         

I’ve learned that positivity is especially hard to muster in the worst of times.  Like falling rain on a stormy day, it varies in intensity.  Sometimes positivity peeks out of our troubled mind like a ray of hope when it is least expected.

I was built in 1900 and was filled with pride.  Gradually over the next 120 plus years I learned that many of my immigrant tenants’ lives were filled with pain and suffering.  After years of listening carefully, I discovered that being positive is not something we are born with.  It is something that must be cultivated and nourished like anything that requires our careful attention.

Over the decades I had no choice but to accept whatever happened inside and outside my building.  Several times I almost lost hope for a positive outcome, even for myself.  I was one owner away from being demolished.  I thought I would never be able to tell my stories, but it was my tenants who taught me how to fight my fear of the future.  They learned to struggle to be positive in their home countries until they decided to come to America for a life of freedom.   Of course, they soon discovered America’s streets were not paved with gold, but positivity kept them moving forward despite the difficulties they encountered in their new land.  But they were free! 

For years my pleas for help were never heard by drivers passing by on Niagara Street in the city of Buffalo, N.Y.  My mental telepathy never worked until one rainy morning in 2006 when I made my usual plea:  “Please tell my story before it’s too late and evidence of my existence is gone forever.”

As fate would have it, Fran, my author heard my voice and turned her head toward me.  I knew she heard me and I felt positive she would come back someday.  It took six more years before she pulled up in front of my building and opened the passenger window and said, “I’m here at last, FRED, and I’ll tell your story.”

I’m honored to still be here standing tall on Buffalo West Side, and I hope my story will help you to believe in the power of positivity, as I did so long ago.

Best,

FRED

VIOLET’S VIEW OF POSITIVITY         

Can we cope with our problems and challenges in life without positivity?   It’s a question I’ve often asked myself.  Sometimes we lose when we face a crisis or a major problem because it’s beyond our power to control.  Nevertheless, I say ‘yes,’ we can cope as long as we can keep positivity alive deep within our minds. Personally, I keep mine alive using hope as an aid to overcome negative thinking.  

When life becomes difficult I remember the field of violets I used to lie in when I was a young girl filled with fear and uncertainty of what would become of me during that time of the Great Depression. Seeing the beautiful blue skies and fluffy white clouds above comforted me, providing me with a sense of inner peace and a feeling of positivity. Today, whenever I’m faced with a situation I can’t change, I stop what I’m doing and visualize my violets and relive the sensation of feeling positive and hopeful.

The Oxford English Dictionary describes positivity as a practice, a skill, not something we’re born with.  Quote: “It’s not something you are, it’s something you do.”  I agree and believe it’s a personal choice in the face of fear and anxiety.  Like FRED, I couldn’t have survived without it.

Positivity helps all of us to survive, to adapt and overcome all of life’s challenges with determination and courage.  It is our greatest strength in the face of adversity.

Best,

Violet

Repost: A message to Fred’s friends and followers

In Honor of Women’s History Month

My Suffragettes, World War II, and the Right-to-Vote

I have many memories waiting in line to tell their tales but wanted to share this highlight as it has been on my mind. When I watched three men working recently on my kitchen renovations, I heard them talking about the 75th Anniversary of D-Day and World War II. This took me back to the 1900’s when two young, female, Irish college students, Patricia and Kathleen, moved into one of my apartments. It was around this time they became Suffragettes – women fighting for the right-to-vote.  Why these smart women didn’t have that right all along, I don’t fully understand, but it was an honor to watch them work hard for this deserved cause.

Their struggles in this fight often made me feel helpless, mainly because I couldn’t do anything to help them, except to provide shelter and the freedom to hold their weekly, secret Suffragette meetings. The twins and many other supporters marched in the first national Suffrage Parade in the nation’s Capital on March 3, 1913.  Later, when you read my full story, you will experience first-hand what happened prior to their arrival in Washington D.C.

Little did the twins know how I lived vicariously through their lives and for the right to vote in America.  And oh, how I wished I could have joined them in the march! I also felt their anxiety, anguish, pain, tears, and shock when their friends were drafted into World War I. What these two, fine women, among many others, did to help the War effort was heartwarming.  I wanted to cry for the troops and families left behind on the home front, instead I suffered in silence. Readers will also be able to find out how this experience influenced my twins’ lives.

Patricia’s and Kathleen’s immigrant family history goes back two generations and coming to America saved them from poverty and despair. I discovered how difficult life can be and realize that I have an important role as a cornerstone of all my tenants and their families’ lives.  I too have had my share of my ups and downs – suffered abandonment, survived auctions and the destruction of my apartment building in the middle of the night, and in recent times harbored the overwhelming fear of being torn down. I’m happy my tales are published and my memories and legacy of hope for all generations have been revealed.

It’s been a pleasure to post a sample of Violet’s quotes and description of Forever Violet’s popular Fiction/Coming of Age Novel to generate interest in her intreging story of survival.

VIOLET From Stony Hill to Broadway

“I’m fifteen years old and live in a crappy house on a crappy street with crappy families. I call it the pits with 4D’:  Dark, Dirty, Damp and Depressing.”

 “I raised my paddle to turn, when a shriek echoed over the water.  Tony squeezed the sides of the boat, as if to anchor himself.  ‘Vi, I can’t swim.  I can’t swim!'”

 “I stood inside my door a moment wondering if I should’ve let him kiss me.  I wanted him, to see how I like it. Not only that, I worried whether he’d drop me, thinking I was a waste of his time.”

“Forever Violet” is the story of Violet Sheehan, growing up during the Great Depression in Stony Hill, a poor neighborhood section of New London, Connecticut.   Raised in a loveless home, she endures years of cruelty and indifference from an alcoholic father and a mentally unstable mother.

Living the life of a gamin, Violet vows to escape the trappings of her bleak existence and fulfill her ambition to become a professional writer. However, her determination and self-discipline do not guarantee success.  Her journey from Stony Hill to Broadway is fraught with traumatic experiences and setbacks, which leaves open questions of life, and the role fate and destiny play in it.

This original novel reflects Violet’s unquenchable spirit and her belief that life is a gift to be lived fully, regardless of the outcome.

Best,

Fred

Dear Friends and Followers:

                                                            MY IMMIGRANTS’ HOPE

In my award-winning historical novel, FRED:  Buffalo Building of Dreams, I introduced you to my tenants who came to America from all over the world.  To escape fear, wars, poverty and persecution, they braved the unknown and left their countries penniless but with hope for freedom and a better life in America. 

For the past one hundred twenty years, I’ve learned of their struggles, secrets, and stories of personal loss in their pursuit of freedom for themselves and families.  I’ve seen them work hard to become full-fledged citizens, free to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them here.

After they arrived and became my tenants, it was the first time most of them would live in a residential and industrial neighborhood where they could live and work.  It was the beginning of a dream to save money to support a family, buy a house, educate their children and even start a business of their own.  This was the America they envisioned when they left the poverty and hardship of their former countries.

Best,

FRED

FRED’S sequel titled, FRED’s Timeless Tenant Tales: Buffalo West Side Stories, will be published in 2025.  We’ll keep you posted

Frances Schmidt

         &

Jim Costa 

Violet’s Post:

HOPE and ENDURANCE

Before my award-winning novel, Forever Violet:   From Stony Hill to Broadway, was published, I relived my life as a young girl who endured a difficult childhood in the middle of the Great Depression.  At that time, ‘hope’ wasn’t something I actually felt or even thought about.  All I knew was the unhappiness I experienced growing up in a home with an alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother.  To escape my troubles and find a measure of peace, I would go to the park and lie down in a field of violets, where I would gaze up to the sky.  It was there, embraced by nature, that I suddenly began to hope for a better life.  At the same time, deep inside of me, I realized there was more to life, that it was possible for me to enjoy and share the beauty of life. 

Every year the violets are killed by frost and crushed by snow, but each spring they are reborn with the return of the sun.  In a sense, I too was reborn by the hope kindled in my heart by the violets surrounding me. 

Since my story’s been published, I realize that it was hope that freed me from the bondage of poverty and abuse, and faith in myself that helped me achieve success in life.  May my life be an example and an inspiration to those who are experiencing difficulties in their lives and may they know, too, that hope and endurance are the keys to personal freedom and success.

Best,

Violet

Dear Friends & Followers,

Repost for Black History Month in honor of Granny Mattie’s African-American Treasures.

In the early 90’s, eighty-five-year-old Granny Mattie Brown, the mother of 15 children and 31 grandchildren moved into one of my apartments with her youngest son Douglass and his wife. Please use your imagination to visualize a small cozy living room, with a small two-tiered table in the center. On the top of the table was a small collection of Mattie’s favorite items, but her most precious treasures were placed on the bottom shelf. It held her collection of books and family journals. At first, I wondered why Granny Mattie celebrated “Memory Sundays”. I can’t tell you the answer right now, but when you read my story, it’ll give you food for thought.

The first book I saw on the bottom shelf, was an original copy of abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin – an anti-slavery novel published in 1852. This book was based on actual events from freed slave narratives, anti-slavery newspapers and first-hand accounts. More than 10,000 copies were sold in the first week.

The second book was written by another abolitionist, Fredrick Douglass. It was an autobiography of his life titled, The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave.

Beneath the copy of his book, was a large faded black and white copy of Harriet Tubman, wrapped in plastic. I found out that in 1849, Harriet, along with her two brothers, escaped slavery from Maryland and fled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They followed the North Star on their 90-mile journey.

Mattie’s most important items on that shelf were her great, great Granny Pearly’s slave journal and her own family journal.  When you read the novel you’ll step back in time to learn the importance of family names and the many truths regarding Afro-American history including the value of “Memory Sundays”.

Best,

Fred

New post for ‘Violet’, titled Power of Resilience

It’s a grain of sand, a metaphor, invisible to the naked eye.  It blows into our lives gradually and unexpectedly over decades of time.  At first it has no name.  It gathers slowly in waves of uncertainty.  It is stoked by fear, loss, stress, misgivings, endings and new beginnings.  It’s a gut punch, but it also hits the heart and soul.  

The story of my life is recorded in my novel Forever Violet.  It is filled with ups and downs, trauma, indecision, grief, heartbreak and disillusionment.  I realized I survived it all, the good and the bad, by never giving up hope, strengthening my will and coping with life’s uncertainties to the best of my ability.  It’s when I realized the power of resilience.

Best,

Violet

SNIPPETS

Award winning FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams and Forever Violet wish all their friends and followers a Peaceful and Happy New Year 2025.

 SNIPPETS FROM ‘FOREVER VIOLET’

“I’m fifteen years old and live in a crappy house on a crappy street with crappy families.  I call it the pits with 4D’s:  Dark, Dirty, Damp and Depressing.”

“I left Annie alone, her darkened eyes staring into an empty sky, and I descended the treacherous path the same way I came up, but much more quickly.”

“Violet, I guess you just aint used to the Big City life,” he said, slapping my knee.  “But you’ll get used to it.  Where do you want to go next time?  Your call.”

Forever Violet and FRED are available at Amazon, Barnes& Noble and online book websites.

Best,

Violet

SNIPPETS FROM ‘FRED’

“My first tenants overcame many challenges and obstacles confronting them and turned their dreams into reality. Undaunted and courageous, they never gave up their ambitions and plans for a better future. Like them, and in my own way, I’m determined to be a trailblazer, too.” 

“With the passing generations, I am in constant transition. As a result, I have made a conscious decision to view change as a companion rather than as an unwelcome guest.”

“I’m a building that can listen, observe, and become emotionally attached to my tenants. Together we are all survivors.”

My sequel FRED II:  Timeless Tenant Tales; Buffalo West Side Stories will be published in the spring of 2025.  I’ll keep you posted.

Best,

FRED

1941: America is Forever Changed

Benedict (Benny) Farley and Bianca Martucci were a young couple who lived in separate apartments in my building. They were on a date at the Marlowe Theatre on December 7, 1941 when their lives and the lives of all Americans were forever changed. I wasn’t physically with them at the theatre but heard the shocking news as soon as they came home. Yes, you probably already know what I’m talking about – it was the day the Japanese Army bombed Pearl Harbor and the start of World War II.

My tenants were scared – truly panic-stricken. All many could do was stand up and volunteer in the War effort, while their hearts and souls prayed for peace. When you read my upcoming novel, you’ll learn more about these troubling times – about V-mail (Victory Mail), Production Soldiers, Ration Stamps, victory gardens, and the meaning of The Blue Stars of America.

Benedict and Bianca’s story however involves a hasty marriage and a monumental goodbye. I’ll share more details later, but here’s a little bit of insight about this couple. Shortly after they started dating, Bianca invited Benny in to have a cup of coffee and a piece of homemade chocolate cake. This is when I overheard them talking about their childhoods. It was a serious conversation and I was listening intently as Bianca wiped a tear from Benedict’s eye.

When Benny was only thirteen years old, he became one of thousands of children put into the Orphan Train Movement. He was suddenly taken from his orphanage and put on a train with other children ranging from five to thirteen years of age. All that Benny and the other children were told was that they were going on a long train ride, but they were really headed to the Midwest to join farm families – some in the US and others to Canada. Benny’s story may shock you when you read more about what happened. Bianca too unfortunately became an orphan at the age of seven, although she was sent to the Saint Vincent DePaul Female Orphanage Asylum in Buffalo New York. Here she grew into a young woman before heading out on her own.

Their remarkable tale and the tales of all my tenants helped me understand life’s twists and turns and in turn made me stronger. Each decade of my life has been filled with a rich history, and the life lessons I’ve learned from my tenants who came to live with me – special people from all over the world. I hope when you read this historical novel, you’re inspired in the 21^st century, by stories of the past.

Best,

Fred

Violet’s Chapter One

Life’s Unpredictability 

Have you ever thought about the way life’s unpredictable twists and turns have affected your life, or the role fate and destiny play in it?  If you answered ‘yes,’ you may want to consider reading FOREVER VIOLET.  As you accompany Violet on her life’s journey, you will see how this young girl managed to meet and overcome those challenges.

“When I was a fifteen-year old girl growing up during the Great Depression of the 1930s, I endured the harsh reality of poverty and an unforgiving family environment.  Abandoned by my mother and abused by my father, I struggled against the emotional bondage that held me captive until I looked within myself to find the courage and the will to escape.  Determined not to be subdued or made a victim of fate, I fought against the bleak future that destiny had in store for me.  Perhaps by reading my story, you will be inspired to take up the challenges in your own life and overcome them.”

Forever Violet recently received an Independent Press Award in the Young Adult Category as a Distinguished Favorite for 2024.

Best,

Violet

Forever Violet and Fred’s novels are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all online websites.

Dear Friends and Followers,

FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams received a New York City Big Book Award in the Historical Fiction category as a Distinguished Favorite 2020 and an Independent Favorite Award in the Historical Fiction category as a Distinguished Favorite 2021.

Best,

Fred

THE POWER OF FREEDOM

FRED’S SECOND THOUGHTS

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my first novel, “Fred:  Buffalo Building of Dreams,” let me introduce myself.  I am Fred, a 124 year old building located at the corner of Niagara Street and Potomac Avenue, on the West Side of Buffalo, N.Y.  In time you will come to know how I got my name and how I achieved the ability to narrate my stories.

My original stories were set in the early Twentieth Century, and involved people who occupied my apartments over those same years.   These tenants arrived from all over the world:  immigrants from Europe, refugees, internal migrants, new Canadians and descendants of enslaved peoples of Africa.  Although the League of Nations had not yet been created, I had my own League of Nations of Hope.  Like my tenants, I was a survivor of those very hard times, and like them, I endured.

Of course, it was impossible to tell all of their stories, stories of success and failure, sadness and joy.  Now, several years after my first novel, my co-authors, James Costa and Frances Schmidt, have completed on a new sequel to Fred’s Buffalo Building of Dreams novel, titled Fred’s Timeless Tenant Tails: Buffalo West Side Stories. It will be available for purchase in early 2025.  I’ll keep you posted.

Best,

Fred

FREEDOM

My name is Violet.  Sharing a website with “Fred:  Buffalo Building of Dreams” is an eye opener.  I’ve discovered I have a lot in common with so many of Fred’s tenants. Most important, is freedom. 

Freedom.  It is a powerful, liberating word that rings and excites people throughout the world, wherever it is heard.  What Fred’s tenants wanted most was the freedom to take charge of their lives, achieve their goals, provide an education for their children, buy a home, start a business—in short, all those things that can be acquired as citizens in a free country.

To a large extent, that word applies to my own life.  In my novel, “Forever Violet” I began as a young girl, trapped in an abusive environment that provided no freedom.  Nevertheless, because of the opportunities afforded me in a free country, and my personal determination and belief in myself, I was eventually able to escape a dreary and hopeless future.

In that sense, Fred’s tenants and I have much in common.  More than that, our stories can encourage others who are oppressed to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them in a free society, have faith in themselves and persevere.  Just as so many others have done before them, they too can achieve the American Dream.

Best,

Forever Violet

(Fred’s new friend)