Alexandria author bases fictional book on uncle who invented working helicopter

There aren’t many people who know that the first working helicopter was invented by an Alexandria man. His name was Leo Ortego and he is the uncle of Alexandria author M.E. Nevill.

The 76-year-old recently published the fictional book "Leo's War" based on true stories she and her brother Gerald Ortego heard about her uncle from family members as they were growing up. Most of the stories were told to them by their father Louis "Bud" Ortego.

The book can be purchased from amazon.com through her website menevill.com.

“I made a fictional story out of it, but the facts are correct,” said Nevill who sat down at Tamp & Grind Coffee Shop in downtown Alexandria recently to talk. “The things that he did, who he married, divorced, and all that. And how he died. I put all that together.”

Pictures are also included to verify some of the things she mentions.

Leo’s story unfolds through the voice of her father Louis. He narrates the story from journals left to him by Leo who died at age 52. Leo was the oldest of nine children and Louis was the youngest.

“I had my father tell the story in the book,” she said. “It's narrated by him because we could tell, as he told us, how much he admired his oldest brother and all his accomplishments.”

Nevill and her brother had “heard forever” all stories about Leo inventing the helicopter. When she was younger, she used to see pictures of him around town “whenever they'd have some things going on for the city, to celebrate the city.”

Then all that faded away. People began to forget about Leo and his place in aviation history.

Nevill recalled that her sixth-grade teacher asked the class if they had anyone famous in their family. She shot her arm up and proudly told the class, “My uncle invented the helicopter.”

“And everybody just laughed,” she said. “Because he never really got any fame or fortune from it at all, although he was the first one, as of record, to patent a manned helicopter that actually flew.”

After that, she decided to just let it go.

Then one day a few years ago, she heard local historian Michael Wynne talking on TV about two Central Louisiana figures who were part of aviation history. Of course, her Uncle Leo crossed her mind when she heard Wynne talking but she didn’t think Wynne would mention his name.

But he did. And when she heard Leo's name, she ran around the corner to watch the segment.

“And there was that picture of his helicopter that I used to see all the time, and all the historic things,” said Nevill.

She sent Wynne an email thanking him for giving Leo what she feels was long overdue credit. Then Wynne contacted her wanting to know more about Leo.

This is what inspired her to write and refine all the stories she and her brother heard throughout their years growing up and make a book out of them.

Leo was in the Army Air Corps and flew biplanes in World War I. He died in 1947 of brain cancer and is buried at Alexandria National Cemetery along with his second wife.

Neville wrote two other books, “Do You Believe in Magic?” and “Land Of The Giants.” She was the Rapides Parish Library Author of the Month for October 2023.

For as long as she can remember, she always wanted to write and had stories “going around in her head" all the time.

She married her husband of 58 years Robert “Sonny” Nevill right after graduating from high school and they raised three children, Robby, Scott and Annette.

“I was pretty busy, but when I retired, that's when I said, ‘This is this is what I'm going to do. This is my next act.’”

She first wrote “Do You Believe in Magic?” as a tribute to her family. It’s about a magic dog.

“I would recommend people not use their family members’ names as characters because it always comes back to you. Not necessarily in a good way,” she said while laughing.

She matched the personalities of the main characters to the actual person and "one or two were a little upset,” she said.

“I tried to smooth it over the best I could. Positively.”

She had just retired in 2002 and was going to start writing. Then their son Robby died.

“I was in a really bad state then,” Nevill said. “But this book, it actually helped me. It helped me get through a lot.”

In “Leo's War” she used her family’s names, but she did change some just to protect them “because there are a few characters in there. They're not too good.”

“There are a few cousins that are still around, so I don't want them to be upset,” she said.

Nevill's second book “Land Of The Giants” is about Bigfoot.

“That one was purely inspirational,” she said. “The idea hit me one day and it just kind of came and kind of wrote itself. It was very easy to write.”

The story is about a young woman who carries Bigfoot DNA.

"And that's how the whole idea came to me because they're saying even now that we carry alien DNA because we came from dust from outer space,” said Nevill. “So anyway, I kind of went with that and it just kept going and going. But eventually they come get her and take her to where they are and the whole thing is revealed - where they are and why they do the things they do.”

The story made sense to her and she thought it would make sense to someone else.

Nevill will be selling her book at the Bigfoot festival set for this September in Natchitoches.

“You’d be surprised how well that book sells. There's a lot of people interested,” she said.

She has another story rolling around in her head about her maternal grandmother who was born in Natchitoches Parish.

“She is a character in this book,” Nevill said referring to “Do You Believe In Magic?” “My brother and I have been talking about her and we’ve been sharing stories because she raised us, basically.”

Neville told herself that after she finished “Leo's War” that she was just going to write some short stories and put them in a book.

"But the more I'm thinking about my grandmother - and my husband tells me this, too,” She said. “He says, ‘You can't write a short story. You don't know how to quit.”

Other events Nevill plans to attend include the Flea Fest this November in Lake Charles and the Christmas Festival in Natchitoches held the first weekend in December.

For more information, visit her website menevill.com

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Alexandria author bases book on uncle who invented working helicopter