Lee Wilson '76 Shares Buster's Christmas Letter with Chicago's NBC5

November 30, 2007

November 30, 2007, Greencastle, Ind. - [Download Video: "Dick Johnson '76 Welcomes Lee Wilson '76" - 759kb] "This is the time of year when we start receiving those love-'em-or-hate-'em Christmas letters from faraway friends, and a few years ago a college classmate sent out a clever one written from the perspective of the family dog," anchor Dick Johnson told viewers of Chicago's NBC5 Today this morning, "and that has now become this book." Johnson, holding a copy of Buster's Christmas Letter: Lessons from a Dog's Tale of Survival, welcomed the book's author, fellow 1976 DePauw University graduate R. Lee Wilson, to his program. 

The Wilson family's holiday letter received "a lot of reaction," reports Johnson, adding that Lee Wilson relented to pressure from friends who opined, "You oughta turn it into a book."

The message of Buster's life and the new book that bears his name is [Download Video: "Buster's Message" - 1006kb] "that feelings are more important than things," Wilson, a member of DePauw's Board of Trustees, told the morning news show. "This is really a book about relationships, and it's time that we tell people that we care about them, say something nice, and you might get a nice Christmas surprise."

Recalling Buster, his family's twelve-year-old Australian shepherd, Lee Wilson pointed out that his relationship with the dog [Download Video: "Lessons Learned" - 1215kb] "changed over time. And we all had different relationships; it was my wife who was the sensitive one who noticed how different they were. But, over time, I had sort of a love-hate relationship with Buster early on, but it developed, and as he got old and his life was in danger I learned a lot about him and we mellowed and really bonded," says Wilson, a first-time author who is a consultant by trade.

A synopsis of the book points out that Buster "disappeared for two weeks in the dead of winter, there was little hope that his family would see him again. Unable to walk when he was found, it was a miracle that he survived. But this was only the first of a series of mishaps that took Buster a little too close to the big kennel in the sky. Featured on the front page of the local newspaper, Buster's story brought an outpouring of emotion and support that deeply affected his family. It crystallized the essential message of this book that feelings are more important than things."

In the TV interview, Johnson notes that Buster's Christmas Letter, a self-published book, is available in some bookstores, [Download Video: "Stocking Stuffers" - 807kb] "But when people grab it, they're grabbing several for stocking stuffers or something." The longtime Chicago anchor calls Wilson's tale "a nice story."

Learn more about Buster's Christmas Letter at the book's official Web site or in this previous article.

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