KERSEY — Once a month for nearly 12 years, writer Marilyn Secco of Kersey has published a piece on the DuBois-based Tri-County Weekend newspaper’s opinion page.

During the pandemic, Secco says she decided to go through the boxes upon boxes of newspapers and combine all of her columns into a book. This took about a year and a half, she said, and she edited the book countless times.

Printing Plus Inc. of St. Marys published “From Soup to Nuts: My 2 Cents Worth,” which features a collection of Secco’s columns about “ordinary and not-so-ordinary stuff” printed from 2012-22.

Secco noted that Printing Plus, as well as the graphic designer she worked with throughout this process, were of great help to her.

She credits former Courier Express Editor Denny Bonavita, also a longtime columnist, for being the one who encouraged her to start writing columns in the first place. Now, over a decade later, Secco’s columns about everyday life and personal experiences have acquired quite the following.

Coming up with a title for the book was especially challenging, as Secco’s writings are on such a wide variety of topics. She recalled saying to her daughter, Lisa Harvey, “It’s about everything from soup to nuts.”

Her daughter, said Secco, told her she had just found the title of her book.

A former remedial reading specialist and classroom teacher, following her 42 years working in schools, Secco says it didn’t take long for her to miss something that challenged her after she retired in 2007.

Her first column, “Adventures with Rex,” written about an iguana that roamed the territory of her son’s house, was entered into the Courier Express’ contest to see who would be named the next columnist. It turned out to be pretty amusing, said Secco.

Some of the columns featured in the book are “Going Batty,” “Getting the Jobs Done,” “Camping or Glamping,” and “Welcome baby Violet,” about the birth of her granddaughter, to name a few.

In fact, Violet Harvey — at age 7 — has taken to writing and is following in her grandmother’s footsteps. Printing Plus Inc. printed her book, “My Dog Bubba” in 2022, based on her pet chocolate Labrador.

Both Secco and her granddaughter were featured at Calypso and Company’s grand opening in October, where a book signing was held for their publications. She has also held a book event at the Fox Township Senior Center, and attended a union meeting for retired teachers, where she talked about the column “The Geezers Do Chicago,” which they found to be very funny.

Secco has often heard that her writing resembles that of Erma Bombeck, an American humorist who wrote newspaper columns.

A favorite of Secco’s well-received columns is one especially touching and heartfelt, “A Dog Named Roofer,” based on the furry friend she saw bike riding on several different occasions. She recalls watching Roofer chase a rabbit across the road, slow and steadily, and getting to know Roofer and his owner.

Something she very much enjoys is running into people who have read her columns over the years and hearing their feedback. Just recently, Secco recalled running into a woman who said she had every single column Secco had ever written in her dresser drawer.

She aims to write in a conversational way that people can relate to, Secco said. Her columns are on just about everything, such as getting ready to move into a new home, or even just cleaning out her sock drawer, which turned out to be one of her most popular recently published pieces.

Secco’s first book, “Front Porch Tales,” published in 2013, which she calls a learning experience, featured recipes, expanded copies of columns and lots of photographs.

She currently writes news and feature articles for the Courier Express/Tri-County Weekend, as well as The Ridgway Record and The Daily Press publications in Elk County. She is also a tutor, and is regularly involved in three book clubs — in DuBois, Brockway and St. Marys, the one that she started herself years ago.

“From Soup to Nuts: My 2 Cents Worth” is dedicated to Secco’s late granddaughter, Chanel Wolfel, who died in April of 2022 and who also shared her love of writing.

Inspiration comes from just about everywhere for Secco. Her oldest granddaughter, Rachel, strongly encouraged her to put together a collection of her columns.

“She remembers me reading to her,” she said. “She remembered how I read the books with a lot of expression.”

It was very enjoyable for Secco to go through all of her columns, ones she had even forgotten about over time.

“The book reflects a lot on what was going on in my life throughout those years,” she said. “It was an amazing experience to revisit those things.”

Without this book, she said, the columns treasured greatly by herself and by readers would be lost.

“I wanted this body of work to live on after I’m gone.”

The book is available at the YMCA in Ridgway or by calling (814) 594-1493. It is also available to be shipped.