OnFocus – The Abbotsford Sportsmen’s Club is starting up hunter safety classes after a long layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The classes are made possible in part by a local author who has been helping to educate the young hunters in the Colby-Abbotsford area.
Joseph “Dick” Lange, 67, of Colby has written 12 books and his 13th is on the way. His original story, “Thoughts From a Tree Stand”, broke Lange onto the author scene in 2017. He then went on to write a series of “Dr. Trevor Knight” books which incorporated mystery into his repertoire.
Lange also donates to the Abby/Colby Police Department K9 unit, Fur, Fin and Feather, and the Colby, Abbotsford and Medford libraries.
“The biggest thing for me was we grew up really poor,” Lange said. “Now that I’ve kind of made it in my life and I remember those days so I want to give back. It’s just really important to give back.”
Lange got his start by writing journals when he was 16. Dick’s wife Michelle eventually convinced him to start organizing his thoughts into a book with intent to sell them. But Lange never was interested in making a profit off of his books. Instead, he decided that there were causes near and dear to him that could use donations.
He said his love for writing came when he was living at home with his nine siblings.
“I grew up with nine siblings so i did a lot of jotting down things after I got done with the day,” Lange said. “I just kind of journaled and it just went from there. I’ve got these binders down in my basement that go back 40 years. What I’ve seen in life, I just put it all down and just kept doing it.”
Over the course of the last couple years, Lange has donated money, equipment and special hunts to the Abbotsford Sportsmen’s Club.
Lange said he enjoys heading out to the woods not necessarily to hunt, but to just enjoy being outdoors and to think.
“I don’t really go out there with the intent to kill anything,” Lange said. “I go out and watch things because that’s where most of my stories come from is just being out in nature. I’m at that stage in my life where just being out there is what matters to me.”
If you are interested in purchasing any of Lange’s books to help support his causes, you can find them on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble.
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Author: News Desk
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