My Road to Deschapelles [Hardcover]

Gwen Grant Mellon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1997

Inspired in 1947 by Swiss doctor, and theologian, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, successful rancher Larry Mellon and his wife Gwen Grant Mellon decided to found a hospital in Haiti, then, as now, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

The Road to Deschapelles is the story of an extraordinary couple who, in 1954, founded Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles in central Haiti and where they and the hospital have cared for the most needy and the sick for more than 40 years.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826410553
• ISBN-13: 978-0826410559
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Friend, Madame Mellon, December 13, 1999

By 

Chip Goodhart (Harrisburg, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Road to Deschapelles (Hardcover)

W. Larimer Mellon, and his wife, Gwen Grant Mellon, the author of this book, were a wealthy (he was the nephew of Andrew Mellon) couple who read about, visited, espoused, and live (she is still alive-he is dead) the spirit of Albert Schweitzer...compassionate care for the poor of the third world. I have worked at their hospital, Hopital Albert Schweitzer, in extremely rural Haiti several times in a medical capacity. I have seen what a truly good spirit can do for others. I wish I, as well as all of us, had the spirit, the commitment, and the love of others given by these two special people. This is the story of their strange journey to Haiti...well written by a beautiful worman, now in her late 80's. Buy this book...you'll love it, Gwen, and Larry as I do.

4.0 out of 5 stars It is a bit of history from a insiders view, March 2, 2010

By 

R. V. Hamilton (Alamogordo, NM.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Road to Deschapelles (Hardcover)

I mostly bought this book because my father was an architect working for John Lord King, and went to Haiti twice to help with the design and construction of the Albert Schweitzer Memorial Hospital. I was young, but do remember him speaking of the Mellons, whom I believe he admired greatly.
The book does go on a bit too much about the high life of the wealthy. I suppose to help contrast to the life of those in Haiti, whose life does not seem to have changed over these 55 years. I hope the hospital is an oasis.