Lo-Ma graduate Douglas Rife publishes book of family memories
By Jenna Comes, Mapleton Press
In January, Douglas Rife, formerly of Logan and a 1975 graduate of Logan-Magnolia High School, had a book published, ‘We Buried Dad In a Leisure Suit’, published by Sunbury Press.
Rife got the idea for the book after hearing stories about his family when growing up.
“All families have a rich body of stories, most people don’t collect them or commit them to paper,” he said.
Rife wrote the book to honor his Dad initially, but it became larger than that. It turned into tell the story of two generations of rural Americans that most people never read about.
“I don’t think most people ever read much about small town America,” he said.
Rife provided a brief summary of ‘We Buried Dad In a Leisure Suit’.
On the drive to their father’s funeral, two brothers (Douglas and his brother Brian) reconstruct the legend of the man who raised them—one outrageous memory at a time.
What unfolds is a raucous, darkly comic portrait of a life lived at full throttle, shaped by alcoholism, abuse, crime, exotic dancers, tragedy, and fierce love. Through it all, one element remains constant: persistence in the face of incredible obstacles.
Raw, hilarious, and unflinchingly honest, this is a testament to resilience and the messy beauty of family. Perfect for readers who crave gritty family sagas, sharp-edged humor, and unforgettable characters who refuse to go quietly.
He started writing the book 20 years ago, though he had been saving family stories and family artifacts much longer; such as taped interviews, divorce records, birth records, funeral programs, newspaper articles, his uncle’s FBI records, family photographs, etc.
Rife worked on the book on and off over the course of 15 years as he had a full-time job and a family.
Rife currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with his wife (where they raised their three children). He retired after working in the publishing industry for 49 years.
He started his career at Perfection Form (now Perfection Learning) in Logan, in 1975. He then worked at many publishing houses (in Minnesota, New Jersey, Southern California) as an editor and later as a publisher as he spent his last 17 years at Solution Tree in Indiana, which is also an educational publishing company that also delivers high-quality professional development and hosts events for teachers and administrators, mostly in America but around the world.
During his time in educational publishing, Rife published a number of books. His personal passion is American history which has led him to author more than 25 books, republish out-of-print local histories such as the 1868 Harrison County, Iowa
History, volunteer as a docent at the Harrison County Historical Village and Living History Farms in Des Moines, preserve local historic sites, and assist in drafting legislation to protect cemeteries in Iowa.
After Rife finished ‘We Buried Dad In a Leisure Suit’, it took him five years to find a publisher.
“I had an agent but she never actually placed the book with a publisher—I did that through my network,” Rife said. “On the education side of publishing, an author does not need an agent, in fact, shouldn’t have one. On the trade side, most publishing houses won’t even look at a manuscript unless it comes to them through an agent.”
Rife favorite part of getting ‘We Buried Dad In a Leisure Suit’ published was recounting some of his favorite stories as he thought about the people about whom as he was writing.
“I also really like doing the research to nail down details and dates to enrich the fullness of the book,” he said. “There is a story in the book about two men who were burned in a fire in River Sioux which I had heard my father and uncle retell. Newspaper accounts from the Little Sioux Hustler helped me fill in some information not in the story my dad told.”
The hardest part of writing the book for Rife was finding his voice and figuring out the structure of the book.
“Once I had that settled, I wrote a detailed outline chapter by chapter and started filling in the pieces,” he said.
The other hard part was finding the time to write.
“I am an early riser so often I would get up at 4 a.m. to write,” he said. “Different writers find their own groove when it comes to writing. The key, I think, is to keep at it--one bite at the apple at a time. For me the key was writing as often as I could.”
As a publisher, Rife has coached many writers over the decades on how to get started, and how to find the time to write.
Rife said his future plans include tackling a few other topics for another book.
