Preserving History Here at Her Voice we believe that everyone has a story to tell and we aim to tell them to save that history, to pass it on. Maxine Schuurmans Kinsley believes that every place has an important story to tell. She has written several books focused on this general region with books about Bon Homme County, rural schools, rural churches, and rural cemeteries. Maxine credits her lifelong passion for reading for her interest in writing as well as her background in library science and her degree in English. Maxine was about 40 years old when she truly got interested. She was teaching in Bon Homme School District as a librarian, English teacher, and the yearbook advisor and the town of Tyndall was planning it’s centennial and they sent out a request for someone to compile and write a book on the history of Tyndall. Maxine was the only one who volunteered to write the book. One Hundred Years of Tyndall - A Centennial History was published in 1979. This book covers the history of Tyndall telling all those stories before they are lost. A little later on, a project headed by a history professor at USD, Dr. Herbert T. Hoover, began. Hoover was particularly fond of Bon Homme County and he initiated a humanities program that focused on the county and asked Maxine to assist him. This book was started in 1990 and was published in 1994. Maxine’s part encompasses the histories of Springfield, Tyndall, and Tabor. In 1997, the veterans of American Legion Pike-Wagner Post No. 2 and VFW SimekPtak Post No. 6895, both of Tyndall, decided to plan a memorial for all the area veterans of all the wars thus far. They compiled a list of information, names, and stories and then asked Maxine if she would put it together into a book for them. The book, Tyndall Area Veterans Memorial; Honoring Area Veterans 1861-2001 was published in 2001 and was handed out at the dedication exercises. The book features photos and stories as well as honoring 1,173 men and women who were also honored at the memorial. The next book published was Prairie Churches of Bon Homme County, Dakota Territory - A Varicolored Tunic which was published in 2005; however, the research began in the 1990s. Maxine joined a committee who had responded to a request from Bon Homme County to identify and restore abandoned cemeteries and this is how she got her interest in cemeteries. They put together a lot of material and they preserved a good amount of cemeteries along the way. A grant was used to publish the book. Ten churches were selected to be restored but Maxine realized that some of the abandoned churches were responsible for several of the abandoned cemeteries. This book identifies 60 pioneer and late pioneer churches in 14 denominations. It also talks about ethnic identities and brief histories of these churches. It reads like a history book but also a directory for families to possibly find family plots or churches. 18vHERVOICEvMARCH/APRIL 2018