My father is a Richter. One of 10 kids, Tom, Harold, Howard, Robert, Dorothy, Margaret, Ethel, Linda, Norma, Cleda Fern (the only one that didn’t live to be an adult). In that time period it was amazing to have ten kids with 9 living to be adults. (Five are still living) All of my Aunts that are still living have battled Cancer at one point or another and are all pretty amazing. My father and my Uncle Tom are the only brothers still around. As they get older (and I do to) I don’t get to see them as often. For me it usually involves a special trip up to visit.
My dad has lots of great stories from his time growing up. Everything from damming up the creek that is now beside my parents house to when my grandfather and his brothers put cows on top of the local store. All of these stores are great to get on paper (or digital), and I keep trying to remember them all. I am also lucky to have a cousin that is about the same age as my father that has written several books on local history.
If you get the chance sit down with your father (and if possible a digital recorder) and get some of the stories recorded. You may think oh I’ve heard that a million times, but when you go to remember it later it’s hard to remember the details. If you have ever played the game of telephone you know how easy stories go from one thing to a totally different subject in the process of retelling.
As you know I have also scanned all the old photos. I try to use family parties as a chance to get each photo identified. I’ve been lucky to have several of my aunts and uncles that are no longer with us go through and label everything. I’ve also given each a copy of their part of the family tree so that they can update it. I hope to get all the pictures printed in a book someday soon so that I can have better copies for them to identify. Most of my older family members aren’t computer savvy enough to identify pictures online, and don’t have the time it would take either. Going through a book with me identifying all the pictures is easier and can lead to some great stories to go with….