My Portfolio

Ruth remembers major events during her teen years of the 1960's - the assassination of John F Kennedy, balloted conscription in Australia for young men to fight in Vietnam War, Harold Holt's disappearance and the introduction of decimal currency into Australia in 1966 are among the events remembered.  

Margaret tells us about her introduction to the WRNS in September 1943.  She was initially posted to Millhill in London where she spent 6 weeks convalescing after she fell down the stairs and broke her wrist, after which she was posted to Northern Ireland.    

Alice relates Stan's journey at the end of World War II.  Being a displaced person in Germany he was put to work by a farmer and worked a Deutz Bulldog Tractor, an idential model of which is in the Koppio Museum Port Lincoln South Australia, imported to Australia in 1939 by...

Jill joined the Brownies when she was 9 years old and then advanced into the Girl Guide movement in 1953.  She describes what she learned during her years as a member, in particular the personal development, skills and outdoor activities.

    Between the ages of 5 and 11 (1936-1942) my grandfather, Dinon, lived on one square mile of land, a peninsula called Nahant off the shore of Massachusetts, just a little northeast of Boston.   Dinon's father, my great-grandfather Ralph, worked on the mainland end of the Nahant causeway in...

In 1930, Ralph and his new bride, Babe, moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts so that Ralph could begin his new job as a chemical engineer for General Electric's plastic division.   In 1936, my great-grandfather Ralph was transferred to General Electric's plant in Lynn.  So he picked up his pregnant wife and preschool son,...

  One thing I have learned to never under-estimate is the power of old family photos.  The emotional impact, and story-telling power, of a single photo is always incredible to me, even when the photos are of another person's family. So imagine how hard it was for me to breathe when...

  1951: Brooks and Rena, shortly after their wedding    My husband's paternal grandparents, Brooks and Rena, have now been married for 62 years.  One of my favorite stories that Brooks tells is the one of how he and Rena got together. Brooks grew up in a valley 120 miles east...

(Click here to first read Part I) Grandpa Charlie   After resting for six months to recover from starvation in the prisoner-of-war camp in Elmira, NY, and the 400-mile walk home from there, 22-year-old Charlie reenlisted with the Confederacy for the last months of the war. In 1937, 73 years later, Charlie 95...

  Charlie E. McCray My husband, Dave, has Confederate roots.  Since we've been married I've heard his grandfather, Brooks, tell (and repeat) many stories about the McCray family and  what Brooks describes as "a lineage that's pretty hard to beat!" Of all the ancestors in all the stories he's told (and...

(Written by her granddaughter, Deon Youd) How does a red-head fit into a family with two brunettes, a reddish-brown, and a blonde? I have often wondered where my red hair comes from. The answer I seem to get from this question is Grandma. My grandmother, Mary Loretta Evans Youd, gave me...

(Written by Nellie Haskell and Stella Dunn in 1976) John Pickles Youd, son of Thomas Youd and Elizabeth Pickles, was born January 18, 1860. His parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England and emigrated to America. They were eight weeks on the water. They sailed March...

Could This Poster Become a World Flag? In the aftermath of the Boston Bombings let's start a campaign to create a world flag to honor the legacy of Martin Richard. The flag should be designed exactly like the poster in the image below. As with the social media which resulted in...

This week's topic was Sports and Hobbies and Bill shared his remembrances about sport in his life - football, swimming and, above all, sailing. This was the start of a 50 years sailing. Adelaide is a great place for sailing and Bill belonged to the South Australian Yacht Squadron.

I was born on March 28, 1950 at 9:30 A.M.. at the City Hospital in Manhattan, New York. Better known as "Welfare Island". My mother, Alta Virginia, aka Bunny, lived at 311 West 94th Street in New York City. Her maiden name was Beach. Mom was 24 years old at the...

Created for the Center for Digital Storytelling in August of 2012.  

Helen talks about her life long love of horses as her story of the topic of Sport and Hobbies.  

Annette says she was never a great sports person but she did excel at swimming. As a hobby she enjoyed sewing and square dancing but writing has been with her all her life.    

Alice continues her story from last week about her husband Stan and his experiences in Germany during WWII.