Last Saturday I spent 5 hours at my great-aunt Rita's house. She's my grandpa's older sister and has been a big part of my life since I can remember. She's 93 years old, still lives at home by herself, only takes one medication, and refuses to put air conditioning in her home. I've been checking on her through this extreme heat, but every time I ask her if she's alright she says, "Oh, this heat don't bother me none." And she means it. She's the toughest woman I've ever known. I got some good stories from her, but the best part was going through a boot box of very old pictures. I had planned on joining her story with my grandpa's for my digital story. I soon realized that I would have too much to put together for that to happen for this project. I'm planning to create another digital story for her later. I was able to get over 50 pictures from her, many of my grandpa that I was able to use for his digital story.

She was able to fill in a few of my questions left over from my grandpa's interview. I asked her why he wanted to get an education and work across the country. She said that back then people just went where the jobs were. Back then, there weren't many jobs in this area and people went where they had to. For many, that included the Civilian Conservation Corp. and military.

Their older brother, Bill, also went into the military. I knew that he was stationed in Pearle Harbor when it was bombed and that he never really talked about that time. She said he was saved that fateful day because he didn't go to breakfast that morning. Uncle Bill passed away a few years ago and I wish I could have spoke to him like I am Rita and grandpa. I didn't see him much growing up. I always remember him being very soft spoken, but would hear mumblings about his wilder days. He was in the military for 20 years and she had many pictures from his time in Hawaii and Japan. Here are a few that I thought were pretty neat.

 Waikiki Beach

 

  Bill on Golden Gate Bridge   1938

Bill - Tample Kobe, Japan  1956

My sister and I are going back to Rita's tomorrow to get more stories and go through more pictures. Rita said that she has many more boxes full of pictures and I'm really excited to see what we can find tomorrow. It was like a treasure hunt or gambling last week because I never knew what I was going to find next. I'll keep you all updated on the journey I'm taking with my family history/story.