You are the Family Legacy Builder
You Can Be the One Who Makes Sure Your Family's Story Lives On.
Inspire the next generation!
Give Your Descendants Their Legacy: Custom Life Story Movies, Family History Films, Tribute Videos & Legacy Books
Every family has stories, photographs, wisdom, traditions and remarkable people that can disappear within a generation.
As a Family Legacy Builder, you can gather those memories and old photos, preserve the voices of your elders and pass something meaningful to your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
What Is a Family Legacy Builder?
A Family Legacy Builder is the person in a family who takes responsibility for making sure the family's stories, wisdom, values, traditions and memories are not lost.
Remember
Discover the people and stories that came before you.Preserve
Save photographs, films, documents, stories and voices before they disappear.
Understand
Discover the qualities, experiences and circumstances that shaped your family.
Connect
Help younger generations know the people they came from.
Inspire
Give future generations examples of courage, creativity, resilience, love and possibility.
This is so much bigger than just genealogy.
Your Family Has a Story. But Who Will Preserve It?
Your parents remember things nobody else remembers.
Your grandparents' stories may exist only in their memories.
The names in old photographs may soon become unidentified faces.
Family traditions can disappear.
And the wisdom accumulated over an entire lifetime can disappear with the person who carried it.
The longer you wait, the harder these stories become to recover.
Imagine What You Could Give Your Great Grandchildren
Imagine your great-grandchildren sitting together years from now, hearing the voice of their great-grandmother.
Seeing what their great-grandfather looked like when he was young.
Learning where their family came from.
Hearing stories about the challenges their ancestors overcame.
Discovering the qualities that run through generations of their family.
And realizing:
“These are the people I come from.”
What Does A Family Legacy Include?
Your family legacy spans a wide assortment of content that defines your family, its traditions, customs, ancestors, and identity.
People
Who came before you?
Photographs & Films
What did they look like and what did their world look like?
Stories
What happened to them?
Wisdom
What did they learn?
Values & Traditions
What did they believe was worth passing on?
Your Own Story
What will you contribute to the generations that follow?
CASE STUDY 1: ED's Family Story
A daughter loves her dad
Valerie's mom had passed away a few years earlier. Her elderly dad Ed was still sharp and healthy. Ed loves telling stories.
Valerie commissioned Heirloom Films and Storybooks to interview her father and digitize their entire photo collection, along with his war memorabilia.
It was all combined into a Family History Film. Ed has since passed away but Valerie is grateful she has his voice and sense of humour plus the stories of her mother that Ed recounted.
CASE STUDY 2: Erika Teaches Her Future Grandchildren
A Grandmother's Love
Even though English was her second language, she spoke it perfectly. Erika used our Life Story Movie services to create a video that was aimed at her unborn great grandchildren. In her full movie, she introduces their ancestors, honours her deceased husband Otto, and teaches them how to knit!
CASE STUDY 3: Bea Honours Ancestors
A Frustrated Son: Grateful later
Bea's son came to us, frustrated. He was in his 60s and his mother in her 80s. Jeffrey had set up his camcorder and was trying to interview Bea about their family history, his father, and her life. "She won't tell me anything!", he complained.
He brought in family historian Cory Bretz and she told him everything. Those interviews were combined with their old photo collection into a family history film which is now one of Jeffrey's prized possessions, especially since Bea passed away recently.
How We Help You Build Your Family Legacy
STEP 1 — Discover
Help determining what stories, people and materials are most important. Start creating your Family Legacy Builder Strategy during a Free Consultation.
STEP 2 — Capture
Record parents, grandparents, spouses and other important family members.
STEP 3 — Preserve
Bring old photographs, slides, home movies and other materials into the project.
STEP 4 — Tell
Life Story Movies & Family History Films
Transform interviews, photographs, genealogy and archival material into a compelling story.
STEP 5 — Publish
Create a physical book that can be held, read and passed down.
STEP 6 — Share
Your Family Legacy Collection
Create a collection of films, books, photographs and digital materials that can be shared with the family.
Who?
Cory Bretz is a family historian and trained end of life doula. Over the past three decades he's worked for dozens of families using his skills in gathering, interviewing, and designing books and videos that inspire the next generation.
What Will Your Family Know About You 50 Years From Now?
Building your Family Legacy offers profound emotional, spiritual, and familial benefits. It provides a meaningful opportunity for individuals to reflect on their life experiences, share their values, wisdom, and lessons learned, and leave behind a deeply personal legacy for future generations. This process can be incredibly healing, offering a sense of closure, purpose, and dignity as one’s life is honored and celebrated. For families, it becomes a treasured keepsake—an enduring connection to the voice, face, and stories of a loved one—preserving their heritage and strengthening generational bonds long into the future.
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