In Vance’s best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” he wrote that his late grandmother, whom he called “Mamaw,” helped ... building a bench solely for Bonnie Vance during a discussion ...

Bonnie Blanton Vance, who died in 2005, was a native of Kentucky before moving to Middletown with her husband in the 1940s. In Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy,” he credits “Mamaw” with ...

His happiest times came when he stayed with his maternal grandparents. “Home” was with his grandparents (“Mamaw” – pronounced ...

As he did in his memoir, Vance credits his grandmother “Mamaw,” with helping him overcome a harrowing childhood. “I had a guardian angel by my side. She was an old woman who could barely ...

His grandmother Mamaw is a force of nature, not afraid to administer a punch or raise a gun to someone’s head. But she is the book’s heroine; the person who gives Vance safety and guidance ...

Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio where his father left when he was young and his mother battled a drug addiction. Growing up, he spent a lot of time with his grandmother, who he called Mamaw.

Bonnie Blanton Vance, who died in 2005, was a native of Kentucky before moving to Middletown with her husband in the 1940s. In Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy,” he credits “Mamaw” with ...