A death in the family
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A death in the family is always a time for reflection. My grandfather passed away last week. I flew back to Oregon for the funeral and to spend a few days with my parents. As my grandmother had passed away a few years earlier my parents started going through the house and cleaning it out as my grandparents were renters. Going through his things brought back a lot of memories but the sheer amount of documents accumulated over the years is staggering. My grandparents kept everything; cards from birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, bank statements, utility bills, et cetera. Most of that stuff is going right in the shredder. Then there are the albums of photos! The sad thing is so many of them aren’t marked with dates or who the people are in them. I also learned things about my grandfather that I didn’t know. He was in the Army during WW II yet I never knew he was missing in action, or that he was awarded 3 Bronze Stars. This information was buried in among all the other documents they had accumulated over the years. None of this stuff was organized. It was scattered across various boxes, rooms and desks. The job would have been so much easier with a little organization.
A few posts back I wrote about my experience with the computer I picked up at an estate sale. Now this experience with my grandfather has convinced me that I need to do something so my own past is preserved, organized and that I don’t leave behind a mess. When I finally do pass away (not for a long, long time I hope as I’m only 41!) I am determined that those left behind to handle my affairs won’t have to deal with the same situation. While I’m pretty good about it I’ll make sure from now on that I tag all those digital photos with dates, places and names. I’ve begun to digitally archive important documents, keep some originals and shred the rest. My military records, citations, awards, and decorations will be chronicled. Account numbers, passwords and contact information will be copied down and secured in a safe along with my will. Time to put all this modern technology to work. If I can keep my CD, MP3 and DVD collections organized I can at least do this for my loved ones.
Rest in peace grandpa.
[tags]death, WW II, military, opinion[/tags]
One Comment
outsider
July 29th, 2007
at 7:04pm
Going through much the same thing here, Mike, and you’re right. I can only imagine what it will be like in the future, when our entire life will be able to be digitally preserved. But sorting through the personal papers of someone who grew up in the age of written letters, photographs and newspaper clippings is both daunting and fascinating. I keep finding papers of mine from grade school I’d long ago forgotten about, pictures I didn’t know existed of my parents and grandparents and chronicles of events I’d never heard of. It’s very strange to be reminded my view of family history has been based on incomplete evidence.
My consolations to you and yours.