We caught up with the brilliant and insightful David Treadway a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, David thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
In 2005 my wife and I sold everything and moved to Costa Rica. In 2006 my wife and I were invited to a Boxing Day dinner by a couple we had just met at the little beach front bar in the little fishing village we were living in. The couple ironically lived only a few miles from my wife’s parents. The couple who invited us were the only ones we knew at the dinner but there were seven or eight other people there. As the dinner started, there wasn’t much conversation going around the table and I’m always one to ask people questions about themselves and their lives. A lady who seemed to be the oldest person there at the table was named Jill. Since it was the day after Christmas I said, “Jill, what’s your oldest Christmas memory?” She had a strange look in her eye, and after a moment she responded, “Well, I remember the Christmas that all me and my family got was one orange to share.” Another person at the table, right away asked, “Why just one orange?” Jill’s response was a surprise to everyone at the table. She said, “That’s the only thing they gave us in the camp in Germany during the war.”
There were a few mild gasps around the table and another guest said, “I didn’t realize you were Jewish.” Jill immediately responded, “I”m not, I’m a British citizen, I was born on the island of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.” She went on to tell something I had never heard, that the British government in 1940 pulled all their military out of the Channel Islands and in June of that year the Germans took over the four main Channel Islands and occupied them until 1945 at the end of the war. She shared that she was six years old at the time and went on to share several stories remembering the German soldiers marching through the streets, being made to start learning German in school and the story of the German’s kicking them out of their house, requisitioning it for some of their officers.
After two years of occupation Hitler ordered two thousand British citizens deported to camps in Germany. At the age of eight, Jill was deported to a camp in Germany along with her younger brother and her mother and father. She shared a couple of stories about being in the camps for three years until they were liberated by the allies. She was eleven years old before her and her family finally returned to England. Her story left everyone more or less speechless.
As everyone finished dinner and were chatting around the room with each other, the host took me aside and said, “I don’t know what it was about you asking Jill that question, but she’s never shared any of that with anyone, even her own family. They of course knew about it but she’s never talked about it.”
I’ve always thought things happen for a reason, and for what ever reason she felt comfortable enough with me asking the question to open up about it. Jill and I became friends that evening and stayed in touch. More than ten years later, Jill gave me permission to write her life story. I began writing with the thought in mind that I wanted to do it in a way that made it a fun way to read history for young people and adults. I started with Part One as a completely fictitious story set up in the hometown I grew up in. The story is about a teenage girl that starts down the wrong path after some things happen in her family. After getting into trouble she has to go to court. The judge tries to be creative, trying to turn teenagers around. Knowing that she is a history major in school, he orders her community service to help this elderly lady write her life story. Part Two begins when the girl meets Jill, the real person, and Part Two is Jill sharing her real story in her own words to this teenage girl. A month and a half after it was published, my wife and I had the privilege of traveling to the island of Guernsey with Jill and celebrated her 88th birthday there with family and friends that traveled for the celebration from the U.S., Canada, and the England mainland. That was a special trip, being interviewed by ITV, the newspaper, and doing a book signing there on Guernsey. The book is titled “One Orange For Christmas”
Jill lives in San Diego, having immigrated to the U.S. in 1963. I recently had the privilege of speaking at a holocaust event with Jill at the library in San Diego. The most important thing for me was getting Jill’s story out and the side stories of the connections it’s made and impact on some people has been exciting and rewarding.
My life in the last seven years has taken quite a few turns and adventures since writing the book. Right around the time I finished writing One Orange For Christmas, I took an Ancestry DNA test to find out my ethnicity breakdown. As has become very common, when I got my results I found out my mom had lied to me about who my dad was. It took six months to figure out who my biological father was. Unfortunately he had passed away many years ago but I found six new brothers and sister who welcomed me with open arms. That’s not always the case in those situations, so I feel very blessed and for the last six years have been getting to know them, doing some traveling with one of the sisters and one of the brothers. That discovery prompted me to get involved with a group called, “DNA NPE”. the NPE stands for “Not Parent Expected”. The group is now called NPE Fellowship and was started by Catherine St. Claire after her own NPE discovery. I saw her on Good Morning American sharing her story and I contacted her and started working with the group. She started the group in 2017 with one other NPE person. We recently in just over six years surpassed 12,000 members in the group. An NPE discovery can be very traumatic and there is a need for trauma based therapy and coaching. I have since received two certifications in trauma recovery coaching.
I’m currently working on my second book, a novel about a woman who has a surprise DNA result. It’s fiction but I am using a lot of my own experiences and others I’ve met over the years. I have always been interested in writing and over the years wrote a lot of poetry and short stories and articles for an online travel site while we were living in Costa Rica for fourteen years. As I was coming up on retirement, I had several ideas for books to write, but when the opportunity to share Jill’s story came along, I knew that needed to be my first project.
My love of history was a big motivator in writing Jill’s story and starting my journey into geneology. I’ve since joined SAR (Sons of the American Revolution). You have to have a direct decendant that fought in the revolution to qualify. I am currently president of our local chapter here in Hendersonville Tn. where we live. I’m busier now after retirement, but everything I’m doing is so much more rewarding than anything I did previously. My biggest thing is helping other people. I’ve been able to do that with doors that have opened because of my first book and my DNA discovery and travel. My wife and I have been together for 27 years. When we met, she didn’t have a passport, and now she’s been to 25 countries. My motto has become, “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have always been interested in traveling. I remember at the age of 8, seeing It’s A Wonderful Life for the first time and seeing the young George Bailey showing Mary a copy of a National Geographic magazine and saying, “I want to see the world.” I remember thinking, “Yeah, that’s me, I want to see the world.” I grew up in Ohio and after graudation in 1976, I left Ohio with $174 and my 1968 Chevy van and all my albums and headed to California. Our latest venture, starting a travel consulting business was a natural progression. My wife and I have been on 27 cruises and traveled to 43 of the 50 states. Traveling is what led to me writing my first book, One Orange For Christmas. The travel business is one that I can help people save money but also help others generate income. Helping people has always been a passion and my certifications in trauma recovery coaching has given me the opportunity to help some people through some very difficult times in their lives. Seeing the impact on people from my book, my travels, and the friendships is what I am most proud and happy about.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I have had a certain level of success and now after retiring at the age of 60, I have more time and resources to be involved in several ventures including writing. My main goal now has been helping others, getting their stories told, and helping people to realize their potential. I’ve always thought most people have unlimited potential if they can believe in themselves again. The connections, friendships, and opportunities after publishing my first book have been incredible. It’s opened doors to do other things and continues to do so.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Social media has definitely been the major source of connecting with clients for book sales. After moving to California after highschool I did not keep in touch with any highschool friends really. I started reconnecting with quite a few friends only about seven or eight years ago. Many of those friends became my first clients purchasing my first book, especially since the first part of the book is set in our hometown we all grew up in. Word of mouth advertising along with social media has been the backbone of the success of my book. An interesting story of the impact of social media. There was a post on Facebook a few months ago, totally unrelated to myself. I believe it was about cruising or traveling. There was a comment by a lady. I made a response to her comment. Shortly after that, the lady commented that when she read my response and saw the little picture of my profile, she enlarged it to see what I was holding in my hand. My picture is me standing, holding a copy of my book, “One Orange For Christmas”. She went on to tell me how surprised she was that out of millions of people, that I would respond to her comment because incredibly she currently had One Orange For Christmas in her online cart on Amazon, wanting to order it for her son. She said she always tried to buy her son something for Christmas having to do with oranges and had seen the book listed on Amazon. I was able to send her a signed copy directly, specially signed to her son.
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