Westport, CT - Mother’s Day comes around every year. It’s a good thing. But unfortunately for my sister and me, our mother is no longer here. We miss her very much. Her birthday is May 8 so Mother’s Day was always doubly celebrated at our house.
There was a time when I had the chance to collect and assemble all her family photos and to record the sound of her voice, but I didn’t do it. Obviously, now it’s too late. My mother used to tell the story of how she sang with Louis Prima. She grew up in New Orleans and music was her passion. When my grandmother finally realized where her daughter was sneaking off to on Saturday nights, she put a stop to it and my mother’s trips to the French Quarter to sing with Mr. Prima ended. My mother used to say, “I could have been Keely Smith.” But hearing my mother tell that story in her own words is something we will never have. That is so sad because it’s a great story.
Three years ago when Suzanne Sheridan and I came upon the idea of helping people document their life stories by using audio interviews and creating photo documentary albums, we knew we had hit upon something special. Both of us had lost our mothers and our fathers and we got into a discussion about how much we wished we had taken the time to record their stories, no matter what.
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The Legacy Project USA was born out of that unfulfilled need. The good news is that many people have taken advantage of our services and have taken the opportunity to document their stories. Some examples are: families whose relatives survived World War II; a wonderful writer and political activist who wants her grandchildren to know and understand the choices she made in her life; a glorious woman in Stamford who spent her childhood as a Japanese prisoner of war on the island of Borneo; a grandmother who celebrated her 80th birthday surrounded by her family and then gathered her daughter and granddaughter around the dining room table while she told great family stories; a man dying of cancer who needed to let his children know who he really was before he passed away; the daughter of Greek immigrants who honored her parents by gifting them with a Legacy Project; a Westport resident who honored her mother by letting her mother tell her story in her own words about how she became a gardener and an artist.
What we have learned is that everyone has a story to tell. Each person is unique and each person is important to someone. Now that the technology exists that makes it possible to record our stories, The Legacy Project USA wants to encourage everyone to consider how valuable a gift this can be. The Legacy Project USA is here to help you record your stories. We can be contacted at http://www.thelegacyprojectusa.com or http://legacymasterpiece.com, email info@thelegacyprojectusa.com. You can also phone at 203-557-0408.
