The House Rules

I was a senior at Concordia High during the year this book covers. I knew Terry, but I wasn't involved in athletics. I do recall being in the choir for the production of "Carmina Burana" which was a great experience and quite a project for a small-town high school music department. It was entertaining reading, and a bit weird to visualize the town and the streets where the kids rode their bikes. I realize that some of this is fiction, but there were a few errors that reached out and grabbed me.One character has a "Carmen Ghia" sports care that is English and therefore mostly unreliable. If the car existed, it was a Karmann Ghia, which was essentially a Volkswagen Beetle with an Italian-styled body on it. It was German from nose to tail and as reliable as any other Volkswagen.The Brown Grand Theatre did indeed have a painted drop curtain, but the scene wasn't Napoleon at Waterloo. After all, Bonaparte lost that battle. Bigly. The picture is "Napoleon at Austerlitz".Jim Beckman

I went to school with Terry and remember him as a really neat guy. It is like being back in Concordia and feeling that I am on the bike or in the car. I can see the places and remember the good times. I had Coach Betts as a teacher. It has been good to find out more about what all went on.Even without the connection it is a good read.

Hamilton nailed it! The town, the people and the politics of the mid-60's in Concordia, Kansas. A stark contrast between a conservative farming community and the changing tide of revolution boiling beneath the surface. I laughed at the antics of my classmates and cried when we lost our hero to the war in Vietnam. My memories of Terry didn't fade over the years, I just labeled him "the kid with the smile" because he truly lit up the hallways of CHS!

November 9, 2009Dear Chris,First, I want to thank-you for writing the book. I've finished reading your memoirs of my brother and life as a young man in the late 1960s growing up in Concordia, Kansas. A special thank you to Grady Rainbow for the Viet Nam portion of the book. I am Terry's sister Sue, or as you portrayed me in the book "Sharon". Terry was 5 years older than I and I loved him and looked up to him and he will always be missed. Chris, there were areas in the book, although personal and specific to Terry's family, lacked reality and truth. However, your portrayal of Terry's personality and exceptional track records were exact and the book was emotionally moving, especially the Vietnam excerpts. Terry and I wrote many letters during Vietnam and he did tell me exactly how he felt and how life really was during Nam.Terry was loved by many, but no-one loved him more than our mother, Josephine Duffy.Sincerely,Sue Duffy - Walker

Keeping in mind this is a work of historical fiction, not pure fact, it is a wonderful tribute to a great young man. I do want to clarify though that the parts concerning Vietnam, and particulary those referring to me, were a compliation of what happened to many of the men in Mike Company. I am not and never was any form of a hero, Terry was, but not me. Several of the incidents were right to the point and completely true, others were ascribed to Terry and Me, but were actually the actions of other Marines in the company. But, knowing this is a work of fiction, based on truth the writers work is very good. Terry's story is one everyone interested in Vietnam and that time frame should read and enjoy. Thank you Chris for spending time interviewing me about my best friend and the war we lost each other in. Grady Rainbow, GySgt. USMC(disabled).

An awesome story that will take you back to a time when life in MidWest America was a delightful era though people struggled to understand their differences and a terrible war that would soon affect them for decades after. Had me laughing, cheering and finally crying but all the while, yearning to be back in those simpler times!

Chris Hamilton has truly captured the spirit of the plains people descended from the pioneers who settled a new and unfamiliar land. Terry Householter epitomizes that spirit of seeing what needed to be done and doing it, of respecting all who deserved respect and not tolerating those who didn't, and of lifting and encouraging those who may have doubted their own potential. For those of us who lived and ran with "House", Chris's book rekindles both the pleasant memories of the true inspiration Terry was for all of us along with the bitter pain we all felt upon hearing of his death. Yet, Terry Householter still lives within our hearts for eternity. For those who did not know Terry, I hope that Chris's story of our town and our hero can be an inspiration and the realization that greatness radiates from within, not from without.

I grew up next door to Chris and Roger, and two houses away from Gary. The descriptions of Concordia at that time brought back so many things I had'nt realized I had forgotten. I knew Terry too, but not well. After reading The House Rules I have come to know him better and what his memory means to all of us who grew up during those carefree, and yet frightful times.