MEXICO — A Mexico native who wrote a critically acclaimed memoir about growing up in the River Valley mill town was recognized last week by the Legislature.

On May 15, District 93 Rep. Sheryl Briggs, D-Mexico, touted Monica Wood for her recent accomplishments for the book, “When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine.”

The book follows Wood growing up in Mexico with her family as they cope with the death of her father, who worked at the Rumford paper mill, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the paper mill’s first protracted labor strike. Wood weaves these three events together throughout the memoir as she explains how her father’s death was connected with Kennedy’s assassination.

Briggs said Wood’s biography describes the book as a New England bestseller, No. 1 bestseller in Maine, Oprah magazine’s summer-reading pick and winner of the 2012 May Sarton Memoir Award. Wood is also the author of four works of fiction, including “Any Bitter Thing,” an ABA bestseller and Book Sense Top Ten pick.

Wood’s other fiction includes “Ernie’s Ark,” “Secret Language” and “My Only Story,” a finalist for the Kate Chopin Award. Her widely anthologized short stories have won a Pushcart Prize and been featured on public radio, including the NPR program “Selected Shorts.”

Wood also writes books for writers and teachers, including “The Pocket Muse.” Her nonfiction has appeared in Oprah, the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living and many other publications.

Last month, Wood did a reading from her book at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Wood lives in Portland, where she conducts a writing program for women at the Maine Correctional Center, Briggs said.

“Monica, congratulations on your most prestigious awards,” she said during the May 15 speech from the floor.

“I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting the whole world know just how precious our Mexico, Maine, USA, is and how much it means to you and I.”

Briggs, who lived on the next street over from the Wood house, said she grew up with Wood and Wood’s three sisters in Mexico. She played at their house as a child, and they all attended St. Theresa’s School together.

Briggs said Wood’s father, Briggs’ grandfather and her many uncles all worked at Oxford Paper Co.

“Wood wrote of the many immigrants who came from Prince Edward Island, my grandfather being one,” she said. “My other grandfather came from Naples, Italy. We were all one big family. Everybody knew everybody, and we helped each other.”

“As written in her book, events of 50 years ago this year, some things are the same, but much has changed as well,” Briggs said.

“To read excerpts of her book — to go down memory lane — all I can say is in many ways, she read my mind. To recognize the people, places and things in the book, my only thoughts were, ‘Remember when.’

“She wrote of the death of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, and how traumatic that was for each of us,” Briggs said. “I couldn’t agree more.”

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