Local author day at Columbia Library October 11, 2017
Posted by diannaobrien in ABC Labs, Charles W. Gehrke General, Events, Uncategorized.Tags: ABC Labs, buy local, Charles W. Gehrke, Columbia Public Library, Dianna Borsi O'Brien, EAG Laboratories, Eurofins, From Melon Fields to Moon Rocks
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Mark your calendar! From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Oct. 28, you’ll have another chance to get a copy of “From Melon Fields to Moon Rocks.” The Columbia Public Library is hosting a Local Author Open House at 100 W. Broadway.
I’ll be sharing the space with dozens of other local, mid-Missouri authors offering their books, so it’s your chance to stock up on books for yourself or for gifts for Christmas!
I’ll be selling books and will be accepting cash or credit cards. Softbacks are $20 each.
ABC Laboratories, local firm, now gone global
The book is a biography of longtime Columbia resident and MU biochemistry professor Charles W. Gehrke, 1917-2009, founder of ABC Laboratories, which has since been bought by a global firm. The company employed 300 people and was started by Gehrke and two of his former students in 1968.
Moon Rocks
Gehrke also analyzed samples of moon rocks brought back from the Apollo NASA space flights and proved when other scientists couldn’t that there was no life on the moon.
Rags to riches
But Gehrke didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth nor did he even plan on going to college. It was with the support of his brother and his high school teachers that he was set on the path out of poverty into success as a teacher, scientist, and entrepreneur.
Charles W. Gehrke as a boy, circa 1928.
Learn how Gehrke went from a small town in Ohio to life in Columbia, guiding a laboratory at MU and building with the help of Jim Ussary and David Stalling, a company that employed hundreds of MU grads.
Can’t wait?
Have it shipped to you directly for $20, plus tax and shipping.
The book is available in Columbia at Yellow Dog Bookshop, 8 S. Ninth St., the Columbia Mall bookstore Barnes & Noble and the bookstore at Boone County History and Culture Center at 3801 Ponderosa St.
The book was published March 2017 by Yolanda Ciolli’s firm, Compass Flower Press, and designed by Ginny Booker.
Or buy it here now and have a signed copy shipped to you directly for $20, plus tax and shipping.
