Off the shelf by Pete Creighton

Former Galesburger writes humor book

T. Willard Hunter, How Can We Lose When We're So Sincere? Paige Press, 2005.

T. Willard Hunter is not outstanding just because he's the great-grandson of Galesburg pioneer Silas Willard. He deserves recognition for being the author of four informative nonfiction volumes — plus his recent shorter, glossy-cover collection of life-long remembered humor. And he's now 91. Hunter tells: "I didn't have the talent to create much humor, but had the knack to remember nearly all that I encountered."

His 110-page volume is "How Can We Lose When We're So Sincere?"

After reading 5–6 eyewitness accounts of a war to deplore, here's a little book to make you smile. It's one to share with friends and family and return to.

Willard Hunter has visited Galesburg many times, speaking at several reunions and often at Central Church, where windows are dedicated by family members — the Willards and Chambers. Hunter wrote a column for the Galesburg Post during the 1980s and 90s. The humor book's title is a quote from Charlie Brown.

Hunter is an endearing and entertaining author. His two best known books are: "The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh" and "Bus Drivers Never Get Anywhere." He was a fantastic public speaker and once spoke for 37 plus hours in Philadelphia, mostly on American history and the Constitution. For this he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

He was sure to be elected to high office, but was stopped by the malady of manic depression. This he describes eloquently in his autobiography, "Bus Drivers."

Many of Hunter's humorous pieces are too lengthy to give, but here are a few short ones:

Every generation believes the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Only this time it really is.

I never won an argument with my wife. When I thought I did, I found it wasn't over yet.

At an election we throw the rascals in. — Adlai Stevenson.