The Hislop family gives posthumous life to their mother’s work.

By Kendall Turney, for the Community News Service

Many people have thought about putting their own stories into a book, but Braintree’s Roberta “Bobbi” Hislop actually did it — in a four-part book series, “The Adventures of Esmeralda.”

Bobbi died in March before the last of her autobiographical books could be published. That’s where her children stepped in.

Her son, Paul Hislop of Randolph, edited the books, and her daughter, Cynthia, designed graphics for the cover. Now, all four have been published and available online.

“She loved writing, and she did a lot of writing over the years,” Paul said. “I’m going through stuff and am still finding earlier versions of most of these stories. She just kept rewriting and rewriting.”

Most people in the Randolph knew Bobbi as the “Hat Lady.” She could nearly always be found wearing her trademark, colorful hats, many adorned with flowers or even stuffed bears and other toys.

But who was the woman behind the hat? Throughout four volumes, readers learn about family members, road trips, first jobs and new houses — and all the lived experiences that shaped Bobbi into the woman she was.

Bobbi was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on New Year’s Eve in 1939. In 1976, she and her family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Norwich University in 1985.

In 1976, Bobbi’s husband, Stephen Hislop, was offered a job as a general manager of an insurance company for all of Vermont. The pair decided that living in the middle of the state provided the best ability to travel around for work.

In 1987, Stephen got a new job at Thermal Energy Storage Systems and the couple moved to Braintree, which would be home to Bobbi for the rest of her life. There, she was fervently active in her community, serving as a lifelong Girl Scout, United Church deacon, makeup director, volunteer at the Chandler Center for Arts and much more. Throughout life, Bobbi was also a passionate writer. Her four autographic books include “The Early Years,” “Life with Sir Cyrus Featherduster II,” “The Vermont Chronicles” and “More Adventures and Family Stories.”

Bobbi’s lifelong dream was to write and publish these books. After she died, her son, Paul, assumed the role of collector and publisher, gathering the bits and pieces of his mother’s written stories and continuing the publication of the “Esmeralda” series.

While Bobbi was alive, she and Paul would work on her stories together, focusing on those destined for her first book. “When I came across duplicate stories, I would print them out so my mother could weave them together into one cohesive (piece) using the time-honored method of cut and paste with scissors and tape,” Paul Hislop said.

When she died, Paul continued editing and proofreading the stories that were left behind.

“So all of the boo-boos are mine,” he said jokingly.

She kept a daily journal over a period of 30 years. In her home, Paul uncovered boxes and boxes of large, spiral-bound notebooks filled with her prose.

While each story is a true occurrence from her life, she uses the characters Esmerelda and Sir Cyrus to depersonalize the stories. Hislop said it was to allow them to be more accessible to her eventual readers.

It’s not just Paul working to preserve his mother’s memory: It is a larger family affair.

One brother as well as his sister both have hands in the creation of the books. While Paul works mainly on the text portion, his sister provides graphic design assistance. Even from her home in New Zealand she has been busily helping in getting the book print-ready.

“We had the basic design, but she refined it and tightened it up and made it so we had something to put on the book,” Paul said.

Paul mused about the intricacies of the future publishing of his mother’s work, which he is still discovering.

He and his siblings are “not doing a specific timeline, but we have other projects in mind that may happen,” he said.

Paul also has 51 weeks’ worth of his mother’s writing while she was in hospice care.

He hopes there is enough there to put together a hospice journal. One unique entry in that series is a pop-up book relating to one or a few of the stories from the already published books.

“We’re kind of focused on other things right now, but I’d like to get back towards that and see if we can push that along,” Paul said.

For him, editing and publishing his mother’s writings is a way of keeping the past alive. Each publication also serves as a walk down memory lane for him and his siblings.

Out of the hundreds of stories, Paul’s favorite is the recollection of a family camping trip when wind gusts reached up to 60 miles an hour. It was a true test of his mother’s character, a character that he remembers fondly.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for the the White River Valley Herald