Becoming the Mother of Me: A Memoir

Kathryn Adams Doty
Kathryn Adams Doty grew up in Minnesota as the daughter of a German Methodist minister. After his untimely death, she must come to grips with her father’s wish that she become “a blessing for mankind.” In 1939, while a student at Hamline University, Kathryn entered the popular radio talent contest, Gateway to Hollywood, and headed to California. In the final round of competition, she was paired with a young actor named Hugh Beaumont, whom she later married. A brief career in motion pictures followed, in which she had roles in movies with stars as diverse as Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Maureen O’Hara, Irene Dunne, and Lionel Barrymore.

Sometimes forgotten in the long shadow of her father, Kathryn grows to understand and appreciate her mother’s special gifts and deep love and, in doing so, learns to accept herself as well. In the end, she returns to the words of Carl Jung, that “Life is not so much a puzzle to be solved, as a mystery to be lived.”
ISBN 1-889020-27-3
$16.95