Gerald J. Kuecher

Fruitcake Hill: A History and Memoir of Life on the Hill in a Family of 15

Gerald J. Kuecher

Fruitcake Hill is a cleverly written history and personal memoir of an Irish family from the Chicago suburbs that has continuously occupied a single farmhouse property for over 137 years. The story focuses on the family’s struggles to preserve the life they knew before urban sprawl became a reality. A humorous and informative read! About the Author: Gerald J. Kuecher was born in 1951, the seventh of Babe and Bob Kuecher’s 13 children. This strawberry blonde was tough and competitive after years of battling with his big athletic brothers yet he developed a sense of compassion that included crying at strangers’ funerals as an altar boy. This marked duality shaped his life. As a teenager, Gerald became interested in the physical sciences after reading reports by the Illinois Geological Survey concerning the glacial history of the Palos area. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in Geology and has published numerous technical articles. This book is his first venture into non-technical literature.