She found a stunning Christmas story by her mom in the attic. It's now a published book.

"The Story of the Christmas Star" lived the first part of its life in fraying burlap — a humble introduction to the world, not unlike its storyline's biggest event. For years, the book had avoided water damage and other ills that can befall treasures in an attic crawl space above the garage.

Only Betsy Strain Neurauter didn't know it was a treasure when she sorted through myriad papers in her mother's home around the time of her death in 2018. She didn't even know it existed. But on pages covered with slanted, calligraphy-like letters, the retired English teacher found an impressive original children's story.

Elizabeth Meyer Strain Gunn had written it in 1951 as a gift for her first two nieces. Inside the manuscript gingerly held together with two lengths of string is a fictional tale about the tiniest stars' determination to shine, despite being pushed away, at Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. Their dialogue is filled with the innocence of children trying to understand what's happening. The descriptions are direct and simply explained.

But the contrasts of loneliness and belonging, of dismay and hope, of confusion and purpose grasp readers of any age, just as they did for Neurauter. In publishing "The Story of the Christmas Star," she saw an opportunity to honor her mom and share her talent with a broad audience. The book is on sale via Barnes & Noble and Amazon, among other retailers.

Neurauter can imagine what her mom would say.

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"She would be like, 'Oh my, you think it's good enough?'" she said.

Neurauter wasn't yet born when her mom wrote the book, and by the time she found it, she wasn't able to ask her about it. Gunn died Feb. 14, 2018, at age 95. So the daughter has pieced together what she knows of her mother's talents to assemble the story behind an unexpected family treasure.

The words "Salem, Virginia," are printed in the front of the burlap manuscript. Gunn and her first husband probably resided there while he pursued an internship during his graduate studies, her daughter said.

Approaching 30 years old at the time, Gunn already had a wealth of writing experience. After graduating from Shortridge High School in 1939 — a year before the yet-to-be-famous Kurt Vonnegut — she studied journalism at Butler University.

In the mid-to-late 1940s, she reported for the Indianapolis Times and its women's section. The writer came away with a wide-ranging portfolio that included stories about women's indoor workouts, postwar rackets to strip people of savings, Chinese government representatives studying Indiana aeronautics technology and a California-themed outdoor dining show at Block's department store.

Gunn left in 1948 when her husband entered graduate school at Duke University, as she explained on an old typed resume. On the east coast, her reporter's sense of storytelling blossomed into the "Christmas Star" manuscript. The story, as published, remains largely unchanged from its original, save for the rare errant conjunction and comma Neurauter edited.

The story arc of the littlest stars' journey travels from dark to light, mirroring the Bible's New Testament story of Jesus' birth that offered new life to a world struggling in despair. The tiny stars feel plenty of that themselves when they're told to stay out of the way as their larger counterparts bustle about in preparation for a secret they won't share.

"Real babies have mothers and daddies who love them, look after them, and tell them important things, but star babies are different," Gunn writes in her book. "They start out as specks too tiny to even see, and no one pays any attention until they are big enough to make a bright shining light."

The star babies insist on remaining under foot as they form plans that snowball into a central role in Jesus' birth. The theme reminded Neurauter and her husband Ron, also a retired English teacher, of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, when children were to be seen and not heard.

"Betsy and I were touched with one of the themes that these little stars didn't take no for an answer," Ron Neurauter said.

Gunn likely read the book to her nieces in the early 1950s at Christmastime, her daughter said — a contribution to the family's traditions and creativity. The cardboard pages came alive thanks to cutout paper figures, some of whom even wore soft, fuzzy dresses, and an abundance of gold star stickers.

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The Meyers were known to roll back the parlor rug and dance in their home on Southern Avenue in Garfield Park. Gunn's mother played piano and was a skilled seamstress who sewed Mary Poppins dolls for her grandchildren and bridal gowns. By the time Neurauter and her brother Douglas Strain were growing up in the 1960s, family members would recite poems, tell stories and sing "Silent Night" in German — a nod to their heritage. And for six generations, the family has attended Zion Evangelical United Church of Christ, where Gunn was a member.

Her love of reading and writing guided her hobbies and contributions to the city. She collected books on fiction, by famous Hoosier war correspondent Ernie Pyle and poetry, even composing the latter herself. The writer also served on the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library board, fundraised to move the library's Southport branch into its own building and helped put WFYI-TV 20 on the air.

In 2019, Neurauter obtained a copyright from the Library of Congress for "The Story of the Christmas Star." In 2021, she published it with Christian Faith Publishing, which provided expressive illustrations. Since then, she's sent copies to faith groups and even to the late Queen Elizabeth II, of whom Gunn was a fan. A lady-in-waiting replied last year, expressing the queen's gratefulness for the gift.

Neurauter hopes readers embrace her mom's message of hope and empowerment through teamwork. As the author's daughter, she also picks up on another special ingredient in the story.

"I can just hear her voice," Neurauter said.

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Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or d.bongiovanni@indystar.com. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @domenicareports.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How a stunning family heirloom find became a Christmas children's book