It was time well spent for Brian Raynor, Zora May, Pam Brown and Paul Densmore.

The four Panama alumni joined forces to write about experiences and events from World War II through the Vietnam era and into the 1970s. They have conducted personal interviews, visited their local haunts to generate memories, researched historical documents, enlisted the aid of staff at five universities and collected hundreds of photos. The writers, from North Carolina, California, and New York state, have met annually in Panama or Chautauqua when they could all get together and also meet weekly via Zoom.

Brian Raynor of the Class of 1964 is a North Carolina resident, a retired writing teacher with a graduate degree in American Studies and writes for Artistic Wordsmiths.

Zora May of the Class of 1965, is a resident of East Aurora, a former docent at the Historic Roycroft Inn in East Aurora and has participated in a local weekly writing group for the last 14 years. Paul Densmore of the Class of 1965 lives in California and has published two novels set during the Vietnam era, “The Fall of ’68” and “The Puzzle”. Pam Brown of the Class of 1975 is the historian for the towns of Panama, Harmony, and North Harmony. She received the Julia Reinstein Lifetime Achievement Award from the Government Appointed Historians of Western New York and is the co-author of “Remembering Panama: Glimpses of the Past.”

Pictured are Pam Brown, Zora May, Brian Raynor and Paul Densmore. Submitted photo

Their collaborative effort is “Harmony Recollections: Mid-20th Century Narratives.” It began when the group reconnected at an event organized by Densmore through the Harmony Historical Society in Blockville. After not having seen each other in 50 years and realizing their shared love of writing and memories, they began meeting together at a local Panama business owned by Brown once a year.

“It’s hard for four people from different parts of the country to be involved in a writing project and not kill each other,” Raynor said. “We each have an intriguing, different story and are all graduates of Panama. Paul grew up near Ashville and I grew up near Tanner Hill. We each had our four viewpoints and learned to respect each other, and grow to be friends. We didn’t intend for it to be nine years but it has been a delightful experience.”

May said at one time there was a worry that the friendship would go away when the project was finished, but it has not. Brown added that the project was not always just the four of them, but that they include stories from other contributors who have let them know their own stories as well. While these stories that the group has been putting together since about 2015 are focused locally and not worldwide, they said more local people will be interested in the book and recognize some of the people and stories in it, such as the plane crash of the 1940s, which Densmore has been instrumental in getting a historical marker for in the area.

Another focus as the writing of the book continued became to encourage others to do something similar.

“It started as something fun to do, but as we progressed it became more important to encourage people to do the same thing,” May said. “We started 50 years late and we would like to see people share their memories with each other and write them down sooner.”

Raynor added to that, saying people have the right and opportunity to write their own books and share their own stories. For the overall group members, all of whom come from one background but with very diverse life experiences, the book means a lot, and specifically validates their own life experiences and where they came from.

“It establishes the time and place, and is much more of a personal history than you can find anywhere else in the New York state of that time,” Densmore said. “It preserves the history of our youth.”

The book is made up of contributions of more than 50 people, at least 10 of whom Raynor said have passed away over the past nine years. The book itself was not written for any gain by the writers and all proceeds will go towards encouraging others to do the same.

“Any proceeds from the sale will go towards a scholarship or program to help others write their own stories,” Brown said. “We look forward to figuring out what to do with that. The book is full of life lessons that we have learned that have shaped how we came out as adults and memories from folks who are no longer here, and now we will have that for many years to come.”

It was noted by the group that the book also includes pictures and illustrations in almost every section, and that it is their way of looking back on things that are unique in the area with no negativity.

“Harmony Recollections: Mid-20th Century Narratives” is available now on Amazon.