Jordan the Rodmaker: A Bio of Wesley D. Jordan CROSS SOUTH BEND ORVIS Bamboo Rod

Description

One copy of
Jordan the Rodmaker: A Bio of Wesley D. Jordan CROSS SOUTH BEND ORVIS
(Whitefish Press, 2011)
BOOK DETAILS
Hardcover with Smyth Sewn Binding and Dust Jacket --204 Pages -- 8.5" x 11" -- Full Color throughout -- LIMITED TO 600 HARDCOVERS
A PERSONAL NOTE:
To Know my Father…
I knew him best in the Orvis years, when I was a youngster and later as a teenager before I left home to make my own way. As a father he showed me the ropes of trout fishing and taught me the workings of nature. My early recollections are about how hard he worked, especially during the late evenings that I shared with him in the shop when he experimented with the Bakelite impregnating process—or the times when he spent lonely hours on adjusting the milling machine, or helping out a neighbor by fixing his broken tip.
In later years, during the all too infrequent and short visits, it was a joy to steal a few precious hours fishing together. I learned about and appreciated his desire for excellence and that it is not easily garnered, indeed, that perfection is a journey never a destination—one that is more often marked by sacrifice than success.
Some thirty-five years now since his passing, I felt a need and sense of urgency to write about not only his legacy as a rodmaker, but his personage so that the forces shaping his life were better understood. Even today much is known about Wes Jordan, and his name is held in admiration by his peers, sportsmen, and authorities in the field. Still, I found my own knowledge and perspective of his life insufficient to tell the whole story of him as a fisherman first, then his fifty-five years as a rodmaker.
Through the efforts of Dr. Todd Larson, who was able to bring to the fore a wealth of historical information and contributions from spirited authorities, I was able to connect with my father’s past. As a result of writing this book, I have had the ironic benefit of coming to know my father from a number of different perspectives that enrich my life today. To know my father as others knew him—is perhaps the most rewarding experience I’ve had in writing his biography.
You’ll come to know him, too.
-- Bill Jordan