Bessie Kelly was born June 19, 1891, in Woodman, Wisconsin. She lived most of her adult life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She passed away on May 3, 1981.

Bessie Kelly lived her life at the height of the Great Depression and World War II. In her spare time, she wrote poetry, and dabbled in writing songs, and musical arrangements. In a tiny spiral bound notebook, she poured her thoughts and heart into words of rhyme, often displaying rhyming styles seen amongst the well renowned poets of America.

Within this book, resides her poems, reprinted exactly in the same words, spelling, and punctuations as she handwrote them in her manuscript.

These poems are a window into the world of the American Heartland of our past. They are a part of Americana.