Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I haven't posted for almost 3 weeks, and I can't believe I haven't done that!  I have been very busy with music during that time.  I taught piano lessons for 40 years, and have had some simplified music books published in the past.  I have written out about 18 Christmas songs and hymns, and sent them to many friends, as PDF copies.  I have also written out 59 hymns, (over several years) and many Primary songs, and I am happy to send them to you ,  FREE, to your internet so you can print them out, and possibly put them in plastic sheet protectors and in a binder.  Some I have had printed in books, but that costs money, and you can print them yourselves for free! So if you want any of them, please send me an e mail to ---   paralee.eckman@gmail.com Now here is a wonderful article.  Tonight we had a Zoom fireside in our stake, telling so much about sharing stories about ourselves and ancestors on Family Search.  Then I found this article wh...

This article has great ideas on family stories, and how to make them interesting to the family! Bringing Family History to Life By  Wallace Goddard  · September 16, 2019 Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE Our usual ways of telling family stories could put anyone in the grave. “Ben was born July 27, 1851 to good parents in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. He became a Methodist circuit preacher who followed his girlfriend to the United States. They settled in central Utah where he taught school and sold books.” Not much there to inspire.  Years ago, Nancy and I started gathering photos and papers from our ancestors. We organized them. We evaluated them. Then we copied the best and put them in binders for descendants. We made hundreds of binders which included important documents, written histories, vital pictures, and a chronology of our grandparents’ lives.  Years passed. We gathered at reunion...

One of the amazing things you can do at a Family History Library is record you, or someone else on a CD, and even a video!  You can also take a VHS recording and have it made into a DVD.  Those would make wonderful and timeless Christmas gifts! Oral History: The Easiest, Most Rewarding Way to Finish a Life Story By Rachel J. Trotter  · October 17, 2018 Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE Read more family history tips at  Evalogue Life . There is true power in oral history. Recently I sat with a client as we worked on writing his life story. I asked a simple question about the example his parents set for him. As he started to talk, he became emotional relaying an experience with his deceased parents. I reached out and pressed “record” on my  digital recorder  that was sitting between the two of us. As he shared a particularly tender story, tears streamed down his cheeks and the emotion was capture...

I have had a dear cousin for 76 years, who has been an inspiration to me!  The small necklace hanging over her photo on display at the funeral has a story!  The pearl is unusual, in that it changed colors according to what she was wearing.  It was given to her by a male admirer, but for some reason, she wasn't interested in him!  She also had it fixed so the diamond from her mother's wedding ring was attached.  She wore it every day!  My mother, Ruth Allen Miles, had a sister just older than her, LaVern, who was Emma Lois' mother.  My aunt LaVern was such an unselfish person!  Their father, John Butler Allen, had died when they were young children, leaving their mother a widow with 8 children.  As they grew up, they were very close, and helped each other, with 6 of the 8 graduating from college, and becoming school teachers.  When my mother Ruth, who had a beautiful soprano voice, was in college taking vocal lessons, she worked in ...

I think it is so important to write our own life story, and share life stories of our parents, and ancestors.  This gives great ideas for that very thing!  A good time to start is NOW! I'm so glad my husband Wayne and I wrote this book about our lives!  It took almost 4 years, and was done soon after our 50th wedding anniversary.  We gave a copy to our children and grandchildren. It is better to get started when you are younger!  Your memory is better! A Simple Approach to Writing Your Life Story This Year By Paul Nauta  · January 2, 2018 A popular new year’s resolution is to write your personal life story or family history. There’s something about the swift passing of the previous year and the fresh dawning of the new year that makes us reflect on where the time has gone and the experiences that have led us to the present. For some of us, we feel this mooring inside of us urging us to capture the highlig...