Interviews with the past...

All of my grandparents are still alive except for one. I cherish the time I can spend with them, so afraid that I may not get home again in time to see them one more time. This year when I lit the candles on All Saint's Eve and thought about family members who had passed on, I wished that I had something more for my children. I wished that I had photos and stories to share to make these loving and wonderful people more real. When I was home over Thanksgiving, my Aunt and I decided to start a family history album, each of us has one.

I interviewed my grandparents and learned amazing things.

These are my great great grandparents Joseph and Tina Michaels. The baby girl on the right is Viola Jane who my Aunt Pamela Jane is named for and who Sophia Jane will be named for.

My great grandmother Anna Marie Fisher was the youngest of five children when her mother died. All of her siblings were passed to relatives in Denmark. No one would take her, so her father brought her to America. When World War I began they lost contact with her siblings and never spoke with them again. My Grandmother showed me the actual stitched patch that was sewn to her coat with the address of her Aunt in America, so that she could get there if she became lost.

My great great great grandmother on my Grandpa LeRoy's side was a full blooded cherokee woman. Rumor has it she was very homely in the face but had beautiful hair. She married a fur trader.

My grandpa Jim was a tailgunner in fighter planes in World War II.

We collected many many photos and stories. We are putting them into scrapbooks. Next year for All Saint's Eve I want to have a photo and story for each person we light a candle for.

For me, I want to hold onto whatever I can from them. Some day this will be priceless.