Adrian Gebben, a man who now suffers from dementia, wrote a Korean War novel nearly half a century ago.
ALTON, Ill. — An 87-year-old man given only two weeks to live fulfilled a lifelong dream with the help of his grandson.
Adrian Gebben, a man who now suffers from dementia, has a multifaceted legacy. He is a veteran, widow after 58 years of marriage, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. But now, Adrian can add "published author" to the list.
He has several novels, poems, and short stories that he has never published. According to his family, he tried in the 1980s. Adrian tried again in the 2010s with the help of his son. Recently, his oldest grandchild, Michael Gebben, stepped in and did in a week what Adrian could not do in 40 years.
"I think my grandpa tried a lot harder than I even thought he did to get his books published," Michael said. "I mean, end of high school into college, he was getting rejection letters sent back home."
When Steve Gebben, Adrian's son, was growing up he said "he didn't hide it necessarily but you just didn't know he was that much of a writer because he was involved in so many things. He was coaching baseball and soccer, and working. Anytime he had a free minute though, he was writing."
Steve believed his dad began writing much more in the mid-80s.
There is no exact date when Adrian's "best" book "Wings of a Dove" was written, but Michael believes it was around 1971-1985.
"The book was inspired from his military background," Steve said.
Michael said he received countless rejection letters throughout the years, even after getting a literary agent.
"It was amazing. It was great. But there's no market for it right now," Michael said. "There were so many gatekeepers up until really probably the last decade, where you now can easily self-publish."
Michael described his relationship with his grandfather growing up as someone he saw on holidays. Suddenly, their relationship changed after Michael spotted him at the mall walking for exercise. When Michael was not traveling for work, he said he would join Adrian in the mall for 45 minutes on those walks from 2012-2017.
Michael recalled getting to know his grandfather and asking him a lot of questions. One day, he asked Adrian if he had any regrets in his life. Adrian's reply began with a thoughtful pause and then "in an instant, he said not getting his novels published."
Michael said even after being diagnosed with dementia, Adrian still remembered this dream.
When doctors gave Adrian a life expectancy of only two weeks, the news lit a fire under Michael. He said he reached out to a friend and asked if he thinks they could get a book published in a week.
"It all was done on a typewriter. That was honestly the longest part of the process. To get this in. It took about 13 hours to take a picture of every page, use the text converter, and then have Grammarly format it. And I just Oh, my goodness! Went nonstop between Saturday and Sunday, and then I had a Google Doc. I was dumping it in to get it to my friend who's the publisher," Michael said describing the chaotic week.
The biggest obstacle before this point for Steve in getting his father's novels published was the idea of retyping the novel word for word.
Once Michael had the book he gathered the family to present it to Adrian.
"I wanted my grandpa to know that his dream did come true and that he is an author and a published one at that!" an expert from Michael's dedication inside of the book.
Want a Feel Good Story!?!
My Dad told me January 3 of this year that my Grandpa had 1-2 weeks to live (…not the feel good part…but stay with me).
My Grandpas biggest regret in life was not getting his novels published.
He tried for years and was told their GREAT but the timing is wrong, there is no market for them right now.
It’s now been 4 weeks since my Grandpa was supposed to pass away. He’s doing great so far by the way, you just never know!
On Saturday Feb. 3 I had a lightbulb 💡moment and thought 💭 I wonder if I can get my Grandpas Novel 📖 published, printed and in his hands by the following Saturday Feb. 10 when we were going to have a party for his 87th birthday 🎂!?
I called my best friend and INCREDIBLE author who has a publishing company Steve Sisler and asked if it was possible? At first he said NO! Then said you know what I think we could make it happen…
I said 2024 was going to be a year of Massive Imperfect Action. Well that’s exactly what it took to get this done!
Through a concentrated effort over two days of more than 20 hours spent scanning his manuscript and formatting the book, my best friend Steve Sisler and I managed to get it published and received copies from Amazon just in time for him to celebrate his 87th birthday with his Family! It was TRULY a magical moment! We even did a book signing!!
Help my Grandpa Adrian Gebben become a Best Seller on Amazon with his novel Wings of a Dove!!
Here’s a link to purchase the book- https://a.co/d/1qhrbqt and it even already has two 5 ⭐️ Reviews!!
I want to also share the dedication I wrote at the beginning of the book!
ENJOY!!
Please share and spread the word for all the Dreamers out there!
Keep Dreaming you just never know when your Dreams will Come True….
Dedication:
**DREAMS & REGRETS**
"Dream on, dream on, even when you're afraid all your dreams may be gone, just dream on, dream on!
When the world says you're crazy, just tell them they're wrong…
When the world says you're crazy, just tell them they're wrong and dream on…"
-Ben Rector
My dream is that no one's dreams die in their hearts, heads, or hard drives.
In 2012 I decided to start walking outside to lose weight. One day in January of 2012
it was too cold to walk outside, so I decided to go walk at the mall, and I had no idea I would see my grandpa there. Come to find out, he had been walking there for years. In fact, walking was a major part of his life since around 30 years old.
My grandpa really believed in the power of walking to help with health and longevity, and he told me he got that belief from his father.
Every day Monday-Friday from 8:00-8:45 am, my grandpa would walk at the mall, and I would walk with him pretty much every day that I was in town from January 2012 until the Summer of 2017 when my grandpa had some health issues that started his decline.
We talked about many different things while we walked, and one day I decided to ask him two questions.
Question 1 - Is there anything you regret not doing in your life?
Question 2 - Is there anything you regret doing in your life?
He instantly had an answer for something he regretted not doing, and that was not getting his novels published.
But when asked if he regretted anything he did, he could not come up with anything.
See, when my grandpa was writing his novels, it was much more difficult to make a living, and basically, there were "gatekeepers" preventing most people from really having success.
When asked if my grandpa thought of himself as an author, that answer was ultimately no because he never got his novels published.
I believe that if you write, you are an author.
If you draw, you are an artist.
If you paint, you are a painter.
If you sing, you are a singer.
Your identity as a creator is not defined by your financial success, accolades, or external validation like getting a novel published.
You embody that role simply by engaging in the act of being/doing it.
My grandpa dreamed his whole life of being a published author.
He dreamed his whole life of getting to write for a living.
He never got to write for a living, and he stopped writing, I believe, because he got tired of getting beat down and being told, "You're good, but the timing is wrong."
I believe my grandpa wasn’t encouraged enough to keep writing and to not worry whether anything comes of it.
Creating/Writing fills the Soul!
My grandpa has dementia now and can’t remember very much.
You can tell the only things he remembers are what he has repeated over and over for decades, and one of those things is being disappointed that he never got published.
There are no gatekeepers anymore stopping you from doing what you love and even doing it for a living.
You can share your art with the world!
My grandpa has been a huge inspiration in my life, and he even called me the "Jumpstarter"!
I love helping people to keep believing in their dreams.
I wanted my grandpa to know that his dream did come true and that he is an author and a published one at that!
As Journey says in one of their classics…
"Don’t Stop Believing…"
And I’ll add…
"Keep Dreaming, you just never know when your dreams will come true, 'cause it just takes one to believe and I believe in you!
Love you, Grandpa!
Thank you, Steve Sisler, for helping me publish this book and make my Grandpas Dream come true, where he could touch and feel a REAL BOOK 📖
You Rock! Love you, man!
Couldn’t have done it without you!
⚡️❤️🔧
Posted by Michael Gebben on Thursday, February 15, 2024
Despite what doctors said Adrian's declining health took a turn.
"I thought that would be the last time we saw him, and then long behold, he kind of got better honestly. His spirit got better. So then I started going more regularly," Michael said about Adrian's health.
According to Steve, Adrian has always been a storyteller who loves history and family. He has kept things dating back to the 1700s and he once interviewed his grandfather when he was in his 80s, recorded it on tape.
Recently Steve said the family gathered to move all of his things out of his home. Steve said, "We had to stop and pause and just say oh my gosh this is our dad's, this is our grandad's life. As we are going through all his papers and all the things he collected and all the stories he would tell."
Although Adrian was not available to speak with 5 On Your Side, his family personifies his legacy and has come to understand the power of sharing your story.
