My Two Lives

Jochen “Jack” Wurfl has lived two lives.

Jack was born in 1932 in Germany to his Jewish mother and Catholic father.

As Hitler’s persecution of the Jews intensified, Jack’s grandfather sneaked Jack and his brother into hiding at a children’s summer camp in Dangast, 200 miles northwest of Berlin on the North Sea. The camp was operated by a brave and sympathetic German woman named Irma Franzen-Heinrichsdorff.

Jack lived with “Tante Irma” for twelve years, and survived bombing raids, SS police surveillance, and food shortages. Jack's mother died in Auschwitz. His father, a political prisoner in the Mauthausen concentration camp, died shortly after his liberation after World War II ended.

At age seventeen, Jack began his second life when the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children relocated him and Peter to the United States.

My Two Lives is a story about the heart, courage, determination, and love that empowered Jack to overcome adversity and achieve his remarkable success.

Meet Jack

Read An Excerpt

It's Been a Great Ride

The fifth of six children of Irish immigrants, Mike Sullivan worked his way up from delivering newspapers on the South Side of Chicago to CEO of Merry-Go-Round Enterprises, which in 1987 Forbes magazine ranked as number 34 on its list of the best companies in America.

Mike believes that the same opportunity to live a full and successful life lies before each of us. "With faith in God and hard work, you can do it too."

Read An Excerpt

In It For Life

The montage on the cover is an original drawing from photos of people, places and symbols meaningful to the couple's lives.

The couple tells their story together in a unique dialogue format.

Read An Excerpt

Carrying a Flag From Pain to Passion

When Andrew Buerger's sister, Jodi, was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in 2004, her courage and strength spurred Andy to turn pain into a passion. Andy founded Jodi’s Climb for Hope, which raises money for research by leading mountain-climbing expeditions—an apt metaphor for the struggles women affected by breast cancer endure.

With engaging stories from Andy’s mountaineering, business, and personal life, Carrying a Flag From Pain to Passion portrays the guiding principles that have helped him navigate the peaks and valleys of his life.

Read An Excerpt

Influence and the Creator's Game

Frank Kelly III tells the stories of how he answered the Creator's call to help build FCA Lacrosse into an international movement that influences thousands of young athletes, families, friends, and coaches each year.

Frank's warm, humorous, and at times painful stories convey life lessons on how to discern the doors that the Creator opens in our lives and develop the faith to walk through them, one at a time.

Read An Excerpt

Surrender to Win

You'll be inspired by Senator Kelly's story of how walking by faith and doing the right thing helped him overcome his personal struggles and led him into his life as one of Maryland's most admired entrepreneurs, public servants, and philanthropists.

Read An Excerpt

Vitae Via Virtus - Calvert Hall @ 175

In 2020, the first permanent Christian Brothers high school in the United States - Calvert Hall in Towson, Maryland - celebrated its 175th birthday.

Alumni and faculty stories, together with rare historic photos, trace Calvert Hall's history from the founding of the Christian Brothers by Saint De La Salle in France to the opening of Calvert Hall on Saratoga Street in downtown Baltimore in 1845. From there we follow the key moments and faithful sons who drove Calvert Hall's growth and moves to a larger building downtown, and, in 1960, to its current 32-acre campus in Towson.

Read An Excerpt

 

Always There

When Jack vowed that if he ever had children he would "always be there for them," he had no idea he would be there for eight!

The whole family contributes to this inspiring story of family dedication from the leather helmet football days at Harvard, to Robert Kennedy's funeral, to family reunions on Cape Cod.

Read An Excerpt

Want to read more?

Contact me and I can let you see more samples of my work.