Thisbook, "Cherished in the Byways", is intended to inspire poor and abused youngpeople to succeed, even if support from family is not available.

Ihave written about an experience: As a young African-American--one of elevenchildren whose father never earned more that fifty-five dollars in any week, Iarrived at Chicago''s Union Station with a duffel bag containingeverything I owned in this world and twenty-eight dollars in cash. I knew noone in Chicago and I had no relatives in Chicago. Twelve years later I had a Bachelor of ScienceDegree in Biology and a Doctorate in Medicine. I am now a board-certifiedpediatrician.

Ihave written of this experience with some degree of creativity and I havewritten it with humor. This manuscript contains about 80,000 words. Thismanuscript is not a simple chronology of events; in the manuscript I usepoetry, prose, and cultural perspective, to weave a very entertaining andencouraging read.

Myaudience for my manuscript ranges from high school through young adulthood,especially those needing encouragement to persist in seeking goals when thereis not much parental support. However, even older adults can surely deriveencouragement and entertainment from reading my book.

Ihad not told anyone that I wanted to become a doctor; from a black derelict,that would sound ridiculous!

Iarrived in Chicago with all I owned in a duffel bag... I had no relatives inChicago, I knew no one in Chicago.

Inthe YMCA on Wabash Avenue, Icounted my meagerfunds: a twenty dollar bill and an emptyViceroy cigarette pack filled with nickels, dimes,andquarters totalling about eight dollars. So I had atotal of twenty-eight dollar upon which to build a new life.

12years later, on JUNE 7th, 1971, a ten year old boy in my hometown, Mobile, delivered a newspaper, "The MobileRegister", to many of the houses where I had delivered numbers(lottery)slips many years earlier as a child. Inside the newspaper was the followingannouncement:

"Mobiliangraduates from medical school--Leroy Anthony Owens, former Mobilianand graduate of the Most Pure Heart of Mary High School, has completedthe required studies and training for a Doctorate of Medicine Degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Robert Owens, of Mobile, who graduated with Special Awards, will intern atFreedmen''s Hospital in Washington, D.C. "

Yearslater, the following articleappeared in THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, dated Sunday, July 12,1987:

".....the71-year-old former YMCA Hotel at 9th street and Wabash Avenue is beingrenovated with amenities that the former occupants could not have imagined.

Manyearly (YMCA) residents were destitute transients flocking to the city(Chicago) in hopes of starting a new life.

Join me as I show you how I, "a destitute transient", becamea Doctor of Medicine.