From horse-drawn wagon rides to school through five decades of tending majestic trees at the gothic Traverse City State Hospital, Earle Steele colorfully and compassionately shares tales of life and how it was lived at The Asylum, a city-within-a-city that once housed 3000 mentally ill patients.Steele's first affiliation with the hospital was at age nine when his father began employment at the institution. Ten year's later, the younger Steele began his own employment with the hospital. At the time of his retirement in 1984, Steele was the Superintendent of the Grounds Department. Between 1984 and 1989 he helped continue the development of the hospital museum and served as curator until the closing of the institution in 1984. The book contains black and white photos retrieved from the local historical society as well as illustrations by Steele. Traverse City historians and students of the evolution of the mental health system will find much to glean... -- Northern Express, February 15, 2001 Now in its third printing (July 2006) Beauty is Therapy continues to charm readers locally, regionally and nationally. The book has spent more than 60 weeks on the region's bestseller list. From horse-drawn wagon rides to school through five decades of tending majestic trees at the gothic Traverse City State Hospital, Earle Steele colorfully and compassionately shares tales of life and how it was lived at The Asylum, a city-within-a-city that once housed 3000 mentally ill patients. In a series of letters to his granddaughter, this groundskeeper's son recounts a childhood of befriending patients and his years as gardener, grounds superintendent and museum curator at an institution where the dictum was "beauty is therapy." Earle E. Steele was born in Farmington, MI on March 14, 1914. his family relocated to Traverse City, MI when his father accepted the Head Gardener position at the Traverse City State Hospital in 1922. In 1934 he began employment with the hospital. Throughout his 49 1/2 years of employment, he served in many capacities in the greenhouse area. He spent the last 12 years of his employment as Superintendent of Grounds. He retired, with honors, in 1984. He maintained the hospital's museum from 1984 until 1989. He has been married to his wife Marion for 60 years. They have two children, nine grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Kristen Hains is a writer who resides in Traverse City, MI. She has always enjoyed hearing her grandfather's stories about the State Hospital and knew that someday they would write a book about it. In addition to her publishing company, Denali and Co., she is also the owner of the Stage Door Theatre Company and a co-owner of Studio 101, all located in Traverse City. Of all her titles, though, she is most proud to be "mommy" to her son, Nicholas. The year was March 1922. As nine year old Earle Steele left the familiar surroundings of Grand Rapids, he knew very little of a place called Traverse City, only that it would be home, the place his father would accept much-needed employment. Although the Traverse City State Hospital had been in existence for nearly 40 years, it was only beginning to come into its own. Earle Steele traveled by train to Traverse City with his mother, Mamie, to join his father, Edgar H. Steele, who had come to Traverse City in January 1922 to accept the position of Gardener/Florist at the hospital. The move would change Earle's life. A short ten years later, Earle found himself stepping into his father's position. That twist of fate would turn itself into a career that would span some 49 years beyond that. Beyond what was initially an employment opportunity, Earle Steele would become a part of the history of Traverse City. He would see the institution come full circle, from a thriving institution with a census of 3000 patients in 1943 to a self-sufficient farming operation. He watched as the institution grew, expanded and eventually, in 1989, closed down. As much of the grounds now sit unused, awaiting their fate, we must not lose what sits behind closed doors. There is more than dust and chipping paint in these buildings. A wealth of history sits untold. If the buildings and grounds could talk, we would all benefit from teh knowledge of a time that is a mystery to most of us. While buildings and grounds can't talk, Earle Steele can tell their stories. The trees on the grounds of the former Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital, now tall and majestic, were planted by my grandfather, Edgar Steele in 1928 and, my grandfather, Earle Steele in 1938. They now stand as a symbol of the institution's roots in Traverse City. And although the old buildings and neglected grounds give way to a need for other uses for land and buildings, history should not be lost. Beauty is Therapy: Memories of the Traverse City State Hospital tells Earle Steele's version of the history of the Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital, as he watched it unfold, first as a chi