How many of you have thought about writing your history down for your kids and grand kids? Not as many as should I am betting. Everyone’s life is an adventure as you know from all my stories.
Stories like I write are things your family will enjoy reading now and those generations to follow too.
The stories you write down will bring the name in the genealogy book back to flesh and blood and will give you a personality that they will not have if you never write anything for them.
I teach a Life Story Writing Class at Wesley Towers to encourage the residents to do just that. I encourage them to do at least one of their stories in long hand so the family has a record of their handwriting, which is the only thing I have of my mom and dad. Then I encourage them to do one on a recording or a tape that shows them reading the story.
The first thing we forget and lose when a loved one dies is the sound of the voice from our memory. I wish I had something like that with my Grandmother and Grandfather Hart in it and one for my parents, but the tools to do that were not readily available and neither of them had recorders.
Things kids today take for granted were not available even when I was in school to the average home. So I encourage you to do that if you can for the generations to follow, it can be upgraded as times change and new ways of saving them come along.
There is also a course you can download online called “Memory Grabber”. It is a workbook with lots of fill in the blank questions to answer for your family. I have the class fill out the book as we go along through the year. Then I go back and pull questions out of the course to have them write short stories to go along with it.
We have divided the book into categories and we write for each category once a year. There are enough questions in the course to last you a long long time. Always attach a photo of the event or memory if you have it to the page and print it off and then insert it into the large notebook you will need if you really get into writing for your family.
Okay, so what brought all this to mind for me to write about it for the Messenger? I do the class two Mondays a month so they have over a week to write the next assignment. But I had never really thought about writing anything for the paper to encourage all the readers to do the same until now.
For the last year I’ve been writing a book; a history of Mullinville, My Hometown: which will also be the title. It has been an interesting journey through the years of the little town that has survived since 1884 when it was started by Alfred Mullin.
I have heard lots of stories this year about the town and the school I graduated from. The book will also include a lot of my stories about the businesses and going to school and growing up there. So my walks down memory lane every week will be put to good use since I didn’t have kids.
I have Mike Alfers to thank for that because he is the one that talked me into writing nostalgia all those years ago. I have been writing for him every week that they publish the paper since September of 2006. Where does the time fly? I hope the readers have enjoyed the walk down memory lane as much as I have in writing about my memories. .
I have been amazed at the memories that I have received from the residents and the alumni of Mullinville. It has been a monumental task to get it all correlated in order and with the article about each business that has been in that little town.
I was surprised to find out in the early years that Mullinville had a population at it highest of 1000, but normally stays around 400 on average. It even had an Opera House in the first few years it was established. That was the only entertainment they had at the time I am sure.
Lots of the businesses had numerous owners over the years and getting them in order has been a job that I had not anticipated. Even the ones that I had personal knowledge of during the years I grew up there were difficult. I must have been oblivious to who owned what at the time if it didn’t apply to me. It has been quite a journey.
So I encourage everyone that reads my columns to start to put down the memories you have of your childhood and where you grew up. Also include your Grandparents and parents into your stories and the memories you have of them. Write your history and bring your family to life for those that will follow you. To Contact Sandy: [email protected]
