RECENT POSTS
Sowing Seeds April 08, 2021
"You can do anything by hard work, honesty, and love!" February 10, 2021
Mourning the Losses in the "Hap, Happiest Season of All" December 13, 2020
In 1960, Bill's Dad Took Him to Enlist November 11, 2020
Sowing Seeds
For as long as I can remember my parents have grown apple and pear trees. I grew up in Ohio, and the blooming pear trees each year showed that spring had sprung. When I was younger, I was trepid around the bees the blooms attracted. In the summer, the trees provided great shade for a young girl to sit under and read. By the fall, the fruit was ready to be picked and eaten. It was worth the time spent helping my father gather the pears and apples, as I knew it meant my mother would use some to make apple crisp.
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"You can do anything by hard work, honesty, and love!"
"I’ve gone from no electricity or running water to knowing how to use Facebook and text on a cell phone!"
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Mourning the Losses in the "Hap, Happiest Season of All"
Today a song came on the radio and I wasn't prepared for how it would make me feel. It was Andy Williams singing, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." I love to sing! I launched into the song at the top of my lungs, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I kept singing, but I was singing through loads of big, fat tears. I was crying a LOT as I kept singing, "It's the hap, happiest season of all!"
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In 1960, Bill's Dad Took Him to Enlist
“When I turned 18, my dad asked me which branch of the military I wanted to join. He took me to enlist in the Air Force in 1960, and I was discharged in 1969. I served all over the world. My boot camp was at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. I did data processing during my time in the military, with additional assignments.
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The Day After Graduation
I enlisted a day after I graduated from high school. I chose the Army because I knew if I went in the Navy, I would get seasick, so the Navy was not a good choice for me. My vision wasn't good, so flying was not for me either. I believed enlisting was the responsibility of anyone physically able to serve their country.
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Seeing Things She Didn’t Think She Would See
“I was born in Talladega, Alabama, where I was raised on my grandfather's cotton farm. I enjoyed living there, and we were never bored! We had a lot of freedom and plenty of space to run around and play. We grew our own vegetables and raised our own cattle, and my grandfather was well-respected as a businessman. He was a Native American, so it was impressive at that time in the South that he owned his own farm. We never had to worry about anything.
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What's the most interesting job you've ever had?
"One day, I was talking to a fireman and he told me to put my application into the Battle Creek Fire Department. I was hired, and it started a wonderful career for me. I loved that every run was different and there were never any two alike.
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True to Her Word
Before I was born and while I was young, Grandma Maggie and Grandpa John owned on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Every morning around 4:00 AM, Grandpa John and a hired man would get up and milk the cows by hand. The milk would be put into 10-gallon milk jugs which were then loaded onto the back of a horse-drawn wagon.
While they had been out milking, Grandma Maggie would have prepared a large farm breakfast. Then their five children, including my mom, Agnes, would come down to have breakfast together. Before long as breakfast was finished, it was time for the kids to throw on their coats and grab their things for school. They would hop on the back of the milk wagon to get dropped off at school, as Grandpa went on to drop the milk at the local dairy.
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A Lifelong Passion for Cycling
“Biking has long been a favorite hobby of mine. I remember getting my first bike from the Marion Gamble Hardware Store as a birthday gift from my parents when I was in grade school. The picture on the right is of my father holding me when I was just a newborn.
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What is Your Favorite Fourth of July Memory?
“Now my family has a cookout, and sometimes we go to a parade. Growing up though, about the time when my brother was two years old, my mother told him that all the fireworks were people celebrating his birthday because his birthday was on July 3rd. The funny outcome was he believed it until he was in first grade!” -Sandy L.
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An Unforgettable 4th of July
As a kid, our family would always go to the local fireworks display to celebrate the 4th of July, and while it was a tradition that I greatly enjoyed, there is one entirely different 4th of July celebration that I will never forget.
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Honoring Our Fathers
It began before I can even remember. Since infancy I have been a daddy’s girl. My parents tell me of how when I was a baby, my father worked second shift. To allow my mother to get a bit of sleep, she would pass me to him, as he got home from work and she headed off to bed. He would talk to me while he heated up and ate his dinner. He would play with me and read me the newspaper. For an hour or two each night before he put me to bed, I had his undivided attention, and surely, I thought that was just the greatest thing ever!
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Overcoming Adversity
What are some of the challenges you have faced in your life? Often times the things we have faced are part of what makes our story unique from another person’s. While we may confront similar hardships, no two people meet the exact same circumstances. The types and intensity of our difficulties typically vary too. For a child, hardships may be things like a spat with a sibling or a friend, struggling in school, or being upset over being told no by a parent. As we reach adulthood, our struggles likely grow to include things like money matters, job concerns, relationship troubles, and beyond.
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A Tribute to Mothers
As a four-year-old, when interviewed by my preschool teacher, this is how I described my mother:
My mommy works a lot, but I don’t know what. She just writes things down. I think she’s probably 31. Her favorite color is purple and pink, and her favorite food is pizza. She’s a good cook… sometimes! I like to go to meetings with her because I like to be with her. She’s pretty when she goes to meetings, and she’s not pretty when she’s wearing pants.
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How to Tell a Life Story
Do you want to document the life story of a loved one, such as a grandparent or parent? Are you ready to share your own life story? Do you want to record your child answering questions as they grow older, to see how their answers develop with time? Do you want the ability to save photos, your family tree, and even audio recordings of your family members sharing memories? Wouldn’t it be great if you could do all of this in one place? Now you CAN!
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Sweet Talk (Reminiscing about Valentine's Days past)
I grew up in a family with three daughters. While you might think that this would mean our home had an excess of shoe boxes pass through it, that never seemed to be the case in time for Valentine’s Day. More than one year we had to search for enough boxes for all three of us girls to decorate for our Valentine’s parties. I recall once even removing all the Kleenex from the box in the bathroom, in order to decorate it for my class party. (My father may have been less enthused to later discover the piles of Kleenex I left askew on the back of the toilet.)
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What's the most interesting job you ever had?
"In 1952 when I was 14 years old, I got a job working six days a week in a local family-owned butcher shop/grocery."
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"I Want to Get to Heaven Half an Hour Before the Devil Knows I'm There!"
My brother-in-law used to say that I reminded him of Lucille Ball. He said I always looked like I was up to something – and I often was! I am still a very positive person...
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The Golden Stairs Quartet
Singing with the Golden Stairs Quartet was one of the highlights of my life!
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Nancy's Passion for Sewing Never Went "Out of Style"
"I worked as a seamstress at Shamokin Dress Factory for 38 years..."
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LifeBio and Music Therapy Helped Me Tell My Story!
"My name is Rose. I am the very loving daughter in a close-knit Italian family from Massachusetts."
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My Most "Memorable" Teacher!
"My brother, Roland, was always my 'other dad' since he was 8 years older than me. He taught me how to ride a bicycle; catch a baseball; and later when I was driving, he helped me get a car unstuck and also helped with cleaning the spark-plugs."
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Sisters AND Friends!
"I was the youngest of five children – four girls and one boy – with my brother Charles being right in the middle! My two older sisters and Charles were too old to be my playmates, but my sister, Mary, and I played together often."
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I was born in 1923, in Tevel, Hungary...
"My name is Katie, and I was born in 1923 in Tevel, Hungary. As a little girl, my family lived on a homestead. We had ten acres and it was called “existence” farming, because we could exist on those ten acres."
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Letters from Home...
"I was working at Sutherland Paper company as a commercial artist and also building our first house when I got my "greeting" for induction on March 2, 1951. I was to report on March 29th."
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Writing Your Autobiography is the Beginning - Not the End!
Share a Christmas Memory...
"One especially memorable Christmas was the year that I was hired to work the Christmas rush at Kresges Dimestore in Elmhurst, Illinois."
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My favorite pet was our family cow!
"Our Guernsey herd was such an integral part of our life… they were like family! We took them to all the local fairs: Urbana, London, Hilliard (which is Franklin County), the Ohio State Fair, and two or three others."
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In 1963, I Started Teaching Third Grade
“In 1963, I started teaching third grade at Sacred Heart School in Lombard, Illinois. At that time, you did not need a teaching degree in a Parochial School (I had begun pursuing my teaching degree, but I had not finished yet). My first class had 54 students."
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My name is Katie, and I was born in 1923...
My name is Katie, and I was born in 1923 in Tevel, Hungary. As a little girl, my family lived on a homestead. We had ten acres and it was called “existence” farming, because we could exist on those ten acres. We had two vineyards, all kinds of fruit, berries, vegetables, and an herb garden. Everything was organic. My father was a hunter, farmer, and beekeeper, and we had everything! We didn’t have any money, but we were rich!
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A Career Change - After 20 Years of Nursing!
“As a child, I vacillated between wanting to be a teacher like my grandmother and wanting to be a nurse because of the cool uniforms. Nursing won out after I read the Sue Barton and Cherry Ames novels."
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I Met Elvis Presley!
“I attended Findlay Senior High School, and I became the editor of the school paper. My whole journalism class traveled to New York City for a newspaper conference, and we also went to the Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey CBS Stage Show. Elvis was making one of his early TV appearances on Saint Patrick’s Day 1956."
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In Praise of Fathers…
“As an early entrepreneur, my grandpa, Henry Deblieck, started a small dairy delivery business on the west side of Chicago in the early 1900’s. Every day he would buy milk and dairy products from local producers, then deliver them in his horse-drawn wagon. One of his stops was a local tavern."
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Writing a Story Online -- The Life Story Made Easier Than Ever Before
It is amazing when a person's life story can be built online. For many people, it is the only way to go, especially for those that want to avoid like the plague just staring at a blank sheet of paper wondering where to start. Why not use the power of a website to write your life story online?
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"Write My Life Story, Why?"
It was surprising to me to talk with an avid genealogist who couldn't see the value in writing her own life story. "Write my life story, why?" she said. I was puzzled. Why wouldn't a genealogist see the value in her own life story? Instead she was focused on uncovering the lives of her deceased relatives.
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LifeBio Question of the Month for January 2015: Describe your childhood home, inside and outside.
This is how the house looks today (and our family doesn't live there anymore).
The gray house on the left. The sunporch is now enclosed.
Here's my answer to this LifeBio question--I hope you enjoy answering it too. There are plenty more where this one comes from--just visit www.lifebio.com and get started. You'll be surprised where your memories go as you open your mind and begin remembering.
READ MOREHow to write my biography in 2015 or beyond
Here are a few key biography questions to ask yourself as you kick off your biography in 2015.
They may see fairly simple ways to start, but they will do just that....get you started.
Tell grandpa's life story and create grandpa's book
I wish I had had the chance to record my grandfather's life story. I can remember just a few things about him now---just a moment here and there. I remember him taking me to a garden center in his big car (that resembles an Edsel in my memory). I remember him driving a similar big, old car down the street to tell me that my little brother had been born that morning! We had an exciting day at school telling all our friends about our new little brother.
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Write My Autobiography
You may be asking? How can I write my autobiography. In fact, it can be a matter of just answering a few questions--but it helps if you aren't staring at a blank sheet of paper. Sometimes, even if you're planning a whole book, it may be just good to start simple with the basics of your life history. Maybe you're just interested in sharing your life story with your children and grandchildren.
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Writing an Autobiography
Writing Your Autobiography
Autobiography Examples -- What to say when you're not sure where to start
Autobiographies are not just for the rich and famous. No, today, anyone can create a short and simple biography or a more long and detailed biography. It's as simple as following an autobiography template. Since there is no one else like YOU, it is certainly something you should do while you have the chance. You may also be thinking about a parent or grandparent who has memories from the past to share.
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The Story Behind Tomatoes and an Apple on the Kitchen Counter
This weekend I was standing in my kitchen, deciding what to fix my husband and son for dinner (our daughter just left for college). I eyed the tomatoes on the counter from our garden, and I decided that I should try to make homemade tomato soup.
READ MORE7 Tips for Writing Your Autobiography
Writing your autobiography can be a scary thing to think about. Where do I even begin? Here are several tips to help ease the process. You'll have your own personal autobiography in no time!
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Oral History Projects or Autobiography Projects in Retirement Communities
We're hearing from retirement communities that are seeking ways to capture the life stories of the older members of the community. Senior living communities, assisted living, long-term care / skilled nursing settings are the perfect setting for oral history projects. Even in memory care or with those who have early-stage Alzheimer's, this is a goal that can be accomplished.
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