A Fleeting Opportunity
It's such a thrill to stumble across the walls of a home where there are photos showing all the generations. But we know that it's temporary.
Bob and Helen led us down the hallway to a wall that had photo montage frames hung from floor to ceiling. Helen lit up when she explained who each relative was and what was special about each of them.
She was very proud of the work she had done to honour her ancestors. Everytime her grandchildren came for dinner, Helen would lead them by the hand to this wall and introduce them to a different ancestor. Bob would chime in with impossible tales of his family from eastern Europe. Their mission was to inspire the young ones in their family. And they did exactly that.
Helen and Bob went on to make a life story family history film with us through a series of fun interviews. They spoke about their growing up, their career decisions and crossroads, becoming parents, and grandparents. They talked about the good times in their lives, the moments they cherished and the people they loved.
They described the lives and personalities of their own parents, siblings, and children. They shared about the world they lived in and how it had shaped them. And always keeping the next generation of their family in mind they both boldly spoke about important personal matters like relationships, community service, forgiveness and more.
We worked through digitizing all their old photos, scrapbooks, newspaper articles, and mementos. Then it all got put together into a movie.
Helen later made a point of watching the video with each of her grandchildren, to be certain to infuse them with the intelligence and power that each of her ancestors had. Inevitably they had questions and she delighted in telling them more stories.
Since then both Bob and Helen have passed away. The wall of framed photos was boxed up and the wall patched and repainted. Just a memory now.
But Helen and Bob live on in their film, continuing to inspire the next generation of their family.
Watch their life story family history film below.