Barb's Book Reviews: Review of "Between Two Trailers: A Memoir" by J. Dana Trent

J. Dana Trent overcame a difficult childhood to become a Southern Baptist minister and a college professor in North Carolina.

J. Dana Trent

Dana's parents, Rick Lewman (aka King) and Judy Trent Lewman (aka the Lady), met at Cincinnati, Ohio's Rollman Psychiatric Institute, where King was a recreational therapist and the Lady was a psychiatric nurse. What's ironic is that both Dana's parents were mentally ill: King suffered from paranoid schizophrenia with depression and anxiety; and the Lady was narcissistic with dependent personality disorder.

Rick Lewman (King)

Judy Trent Lewman (the Lady)

In the early 1980s King, the Lady, and toddler Dana moved to Indiana, and the Lewmans bought a trailer in King's hometown of Dana, in Vermillion County. Dana is famous for being the home town of Ernie Pyle, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and war correspondent.

Dana, Indiana

The Ernie Pyle Festival in Dana, Indiana

Rick Lewman (King), Judy Trent Lewman (the Lady), and baby Dana

In Indiana, King became a drug dealer and the lady lounged around in a king size bed in the trailer's back bedroom, smoking joints, binge-watching the 700 Club, and guarding King's marijuana bales and cocaine bricks.

Dana's father (King) became a drug dealer

By the time Dana was four-years-old, she recalls, "I helped my schizophrenic drug-lord father chop, drop, and traffic kilos in kiddie-ride [ponies] across flyover country....Dad's entourage were loyal men with street names that reflected their personalities or vices....Together with them, our little family supplied Midwesterners with enough uppers and downers to soothe the monotony of landlocked Vermillion County."

Young Dana and her father (King)

When the drug trade was doing poorly Dana lived on ketchup sandwiches, and when things picked up the Lewmans ate bologna and scrambled eggs with cheese. Luckily, Dana's grandmother and grandfather (aka G&GL), as well as her Uncle Leuge and Aunt Marietta, lived nearby, and Dana could eat her fill when she visited their homes. Dana especially loved her grandmother's 'candy spaghetti', which was Chef Boyardee box pasta doctored up with ketchup and brown sugar.

Dana and her cousins with their grandmother and grandfather (G&GL)

Chef Boyardee spaghetti

Despite her chaotic life, Dana dearly loved her father. King would take Dana and her cousins on midnight bike rides, and impart wisdom such as: 'If you want to kill somebody, you do it in Vermillion County' and 'There's only so much sugar in the sack' (when King was out of drugs, time, or money). Dana notes, "We rode without the heaviness of drugs or cash that needed to be hidden. It was a rare respite from slinging and the fetid trailer."

Little Dana

Dana and her father (King)

King and the Lady had different aspirations for the future, and when Dana was six, the Lady took Dana and relocated to North Carolina - where the Lady had family. Dana's mother proceeded to divorce King, and Dana's anxiety resulted in her compulsively pulling out chunks of hair by the roots.

Young Dana

Dana writes, "I was now of two worlds - Indiana and North Carolina - and I took up a shape-shifting identity to be the daughter they needed in each environment." A therapist diagnosed Dana as "operating at a superior level of intellectual functioning" but with "emotional resources insufficient to cope with current stressors."

Young Dana

Dana being baptized at Binkley Baptist Church in North Carolina

The Lady sometimes worked as a nurse to support herself and Dana, but King paid no child support, money was scarce, and the Lady's family had to help out (a lot). Meanwhile, Dana felt deserted by her father, who seemed to have abandoned her.

Later on, Dana would spend summers in Indiana, visiting with her extended Lewman family. However, King's mental illness often led to bizarre behavior and forgetfulness about food, and G&GL would have to step in.

Dana enjoyed her summers in Vermillion County, but they hurt her relationship with the Lady. Dana observes, "Navigating time with my parents was a losing game of Whac-A-Mole. If I met the deficit with one, the other would pop up. It was as much about hatred for each other as it was about love for me or parental self-esteem." The Lady's resentment "manifested as meanness, then obnoxious self-importance that covered her insecurity."

Dana's mother (the Lady)

Things escalated to the point that the Lady insisted Dana change her last name to Trent (the Lady's family name). Dana observes, "It was the beginning of a formal certified separation from my heritage, my home, my father, and my family."

When Dana entered adolescence, she became boy crazy, and dated a steady stream of boys, in both Indiana and North Carolina. Dana writes, "I was the young woman who tried to replace her absent father's love and attention with external validation from the opposite sex."

Adolescent Dana

Dana and her father (King)

After high school Dana went on to Salem College and had dreams of law school; however, the Lady persuaded Dana to apply to Divinity School at Duke University, and, in time, Dana was ordained. The years after high school were hard for Dana, as booze and food put on the pounds, while anxiety led to Dana's prescription drug use.

Duke Divinity School

The Lady insisted Dana sever her Indiana roots; was miffed when Dana fell in love and got married; and did everything she could to control Dana's life - which Dana attributes to the Lady's mental illness. It wasn't until the Lady passed away, in 2017, that Dana could re-establish ties to her childhood roots in Indiana.

Dana and her mother (the Lady)

Dana's mother (the Lady)

Dana now seems to be a well-adjusted minister and teacher, and her resilience can serve as encouragement for young people in challenging situations.