When in Rome, Find Time to Write!

A blog post by
Publishing Intern Lily Fitzgerald

Lily in a gondola along the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy

During my winter break from classes at UMass-Amherst, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Italy with a program led by my business school. For two weeks, thirty other students and I would travel to five cities to learn about international business and how different industries adapt to cultural challenges and globalization. I thought the trip would be both an educational experience and a vacation from my usual work, but my creative writing professor had other ideas. 

In addition to my business studies, I am currently working on a horror anthology as part of my honors thesis in Creative Writing. On the last day of class in the fall 2024 semester, my creative writing professor pulled me aside. He said he believed I would have a better start to the next semester if I had some writing ready to be workshopped by the first or second week of classes. He told me I should “not stop conversing with my characters” and advised me to focus on my writing throughout the break.

“My creative writing professor pulled me aside. He told me I should ‘not stop conversing with my characters’ and advised me to focus on my writing throughout the break.”

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy

I agreed and took his advice seriously. I planned to dedicate an hour each day to writing throughout the break, including during my time in Italy. At first, my plan worked out well. I had little disruption to my life and slipped writing time in between spending time with family, celebrating Christmas, and catching up with friends. While packing my journal and pens into my backpack, I felt confident that I could keep up with my commitment to writing while traveling. 

I realized how naïve I was on the first day of my trip. Due to layovers and delays, it took over twelve hours to get to Italy. By the time I arrived in Rome, I hadn’t slept in over 48 hours and couldn’t even look at my journal. All I wanted was to lie down on my hotel bed and see the inside of my eyelids.

Crypt inside the Opera della Metropolitana in Siena, Italy

The next two days were no easier, as I was exhausted from the time change and from exploring Rome. After running around between historic sites, business meetings, and group dinners all day, I would go back to my hotel room and pass out in bed. In fact, I completely forgot about my writing commitment until I was repacking my bag to go to the next city on our itinerary, and I saw my journal at the bottom of my backpack. I was disappointed in myself. Realizing the fast pace I was keeping in Italy was not going to get easier, I made a plan to keep up with my writing. 

First, I adjusted my expectations. There was no way my schedule would allow me an uninterrupted hour every day to dedicate to writing, so I lowered my quota to at least twenty minutes a day. This made my daily writing goal less daunting on days when I was especially tired. 

Second, I looked for more opportunities to write instead of waiting until I was back in my hotel room at the end of the day. I took advantage of time while traveling between cities on the bus, and I also bowed out of some optional, touristy activities that weren’t of interest to me. These breaks gave me the chance to write in my hotel room and also benefitted my overall health and wellbeing during the trip. 

And third, I realized just how beneficial writing while traveling was to my craft. I found inspiration for setting descriptions and other elements of my stories in the gothic architecture of churches I visited, for example, and the many new experiences I had and sights I saw inspired me with writing ideas outside of my thesis. I returned to UMass for the spring semester with a completed short story that I was able to workshop with my class. Although my draft still needs some work, it was a good starting point for the semester.

Even though I did get off track with my writing goals at the start of my trip to Italy, the experience of reorienting myself ended up helping both my craft and my practice. The lesson I learned is: don’t get discouraged, and always find time to write. No matter where I am, I know that life will throw distractions and challenges my way, and learning how to adapt as I prioritize writing will only make me better at what I love.

Lily atop the panorama at the Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy

Lily Fitzgerald is publishing intern for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

Building William’s Farm: Moving Beyond the Internet in Genealogy Research

A map of Delta County, Colorado in 1884, cartographer Louis Nell, David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries

There are so many databases and digitized documents available on the internet that it is easy for today’s family historians to take them for granted. According to Ancestry.com, which currently provides “billions” of images and indexed entries online, their specialists add an average of two million records per day. As of the end of 2024, the Find a Grave website offered over 250 million memorials.

Gone are the days that we have to travel to town offices to page through record books, to cemeteries to wander among the gravestones, and to archives to scroll through rolls of microfilm in order to research our ancestors.

“Moving beyond internet-based research is required if we want to uncover a deeper story rich in details about the lives of those who came before us.”

But even though significant in-person or person-to-person effort is no longer necessary to gather a sizable collection of facts, moving beyond internet-based research is required if we want to uncover a deeper story rich in details about the lives of those who came before us. The volume of information available on the web is large, but it only scratches the surface of the world to be explored.

After all, digitization is an ongoing process, and there are untold numbers of useful documents that still exist in hard copy only. I continue to marvel at what I am able to learn by taking the extra step of contacting a county clerk to request a copy of a will that is stored on their shelf, or by visiting a library to read a handwritten letter that is folded inside one of its boxes. I made a recent exciting breakthrough in my own family history research by writing to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for a copy of the land entry case file of my great-great-grandfather William Jeffrey Gaunt (1852–1924).

Earlier, I found a biographical sketch published by one of his children that said that William migrated with his family from Michigan in the 1880s and “took up a homestead” on Ash Mesa in Delta County, Colorado. This lies in the west-central region of the state, on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains. To investigate further, I began with the easy step of searching the internet. The General Land Office Records Automation website, hosted by the Bureau of Land Management, contains scanned images of land patents and survey maps that can be accessed quickly (and for free) by entering a location and landholder’s name in the search fields.

The one-page patent listing the bare-bone facts about William Gaunt’s land in Delta County, Colorado.

From this I learned that, in 1891, William was granted 156-plus acres of “Ute Series” land that he purchased in Delta County. The patent lists the coordinates of his tract:

The North East quarter of the South East quarter of Section twenty-four in Township fifty-one North of Range Eleven West and the North West quarter of the South East quarter, the Lot numbered three and the North East quarter of the South West quarter of Section nineteen in Township fifty-one North of Range ten West of New Mexico Meridian in Colorado, containing one hundred and fifty-six acres and forty-nine hundredths of an acre.

The document also names the land as the homeland of the Ute people, which inspired me to study them further. I found that these Native Americans were removed from Colorado to the Utah Territory in 1880, and that 6 million acres of their ancestral land was opened to public settlement two years later. Learning this history reinforced my commitment to balancing the telling of my family’s history with a recording of the supreme loss to others that it involves.

Apart from making me aware of the Ute removal, the patent merely told me how much land William purchased and where it was located. It told me nothing about what his homestead was like. For this, I needed to request his land entry case file from NARA. It took two months to receive it and a $50 fee, but they copied and emailed me the 31-page legal document that William filed in 1888 to claim the land. In it, he and two witnesses detailed his residency, cultivation efforts, and compliance with entry requirements necessary to take ownership. It provided a treasure trove of information that brought the whole event to life.

According to the application, William paid $195.61, or $1.25 per acre, for 156.49 acres. (This is the equivalent of $6,344.64 in today’s dollars.)

The homestead stood outside the limits of an incorporated town, and William described the land as “red mesa soil, most valuable for farming,” and requiring irrigation. There were no minerals, there was “no timber except shade trees I have set out,” and the land was not used for grazing.

William said that he first made settlement on 18 February 1886 and began living there permanently with his wife and child about one week later. This was Catherine “Katie” Annie Brooks (1861–1890) and their first daughter, Sadie Muriel Gaunt (1881–1951).

The land had previously been occupied by a man named Leonard Lawrence, William said, and he purchased Lawrence’s cabin and possessions. The structure was not quite finished, requiring William to complete it. “I fixed up the old cabin, put on a new roof & fenced 2 acres for garden,” he said. Their home was habitable at all seasons of the year.

One page from William Gaunt’s 31-page land entry case file.

In a full description of the house, improvements, and value of each, William listed:

Log house 1 story, 12x14 ft, roof of boards & tar paper, good board floor, good door, 1 window, $50. Board hen house 10x12, $25. Log ice house 10x12, $25. Water closet, $15. About 2 miles of cedar posts & barbed wire fence, $300. $528 stock in Delta Chief Ditch for irrigating the land. Total $953. Strawberries, raspberries, & other small fruit set out.

His farm implements consisted of a “riding plow, walking plow, cultivator, corn planter, harrow & small tools.” For domestic animals and livestock, he had “2 mares, 1 horse, 1 colt, 1 cow, 1 heifer, 2 hogs.” The articles of furniture in his residence were a “bureau, sewing machine, bed & bedding, cook stove & cooking utensils, dishes, table, 6 chairs, rocking chair, commode, etc.”

This humble inventory of what William possessed to create a life for himself and his family lends color to the bare facts of his progress over time. I can imagine him using his tools and livestock on the land and retiring to his home with Katie and their daughter after hours of physical labor, as he accomplished the following:

  • In 1886, William put in a 2-acre garden, and he paid $100 in taxes in Delta for the improvements he made on the land.

  • In 1887, he planted 8 acres of alfalfa and 1 acre of potatoes in addition to the garden, and his taxes doubled to $200, presumably based on the increased value of his property and its yield.

  • In 1888, he had 72 acres in crop.

William reported that he and his family had lived continuously on the homestead except for two occasions, one in which he worked as a mason in town, and one in which he farmed on a neighbor’s land:

In 1886, working on court house at Delta. In 1887, I worked James Kerrs land for a share of the crop and I lived on his land for about 11 months, but at the same time I worked my own land also. I was not able to get seed for my own land nor feed for my team. Mr. Kerr furnished both & I worked his land.

All of this from William’s case file!

I knew from previous research that his second daughter, my great-grandmother Theresa Barbara Gaunt (1889–1949), was born on Ash Mesa not long after the family arrived in Colorado. Though she died before I was born, now I could picture her first home. I also knew that her mother, Katie, died very young, when Theresa was just one year and seven months old. I could now begin to imagine what the short life of this pioneer woman was like.

Although I greatly appreciate the wealth of online information available to me in my genealogy research, it feels fitting that I came to this new knowledge about my ancestors by writing to a government office for hard-copy documents filed by my great-great-grandfather. William built a farm with modest equipment and resources, and I am building the story of that place with the help of back-to-basics legwork in my research. I hope that comparing the stark information from the patent to the vivid description in the case file convinces readers to venture beyond the online world, as well. Who knows what you might learn!

Liz Sonnenberg is staff genealogist for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client Marvin Kalb

Marvin Kalb published his book entitled A Different Russia: Khrushchev and Kennedy on a Collision Course with Modern Memoirs in 2024. This Assisted Memoir took just one and one-half months from the day we started the project to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked Kalb to reflect on publishing his memoir, his career, and the field of journalism.

For seven decades, Marvin Kalb has been a journalist, teacher, and writer. He is the Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard, where he was Founding Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. After 30 years at CBS News and NBC News, first as Moscow bureau chief and then as Diplomatic Correspondent and Moderator of Meet the Press, Kalb retired in 2023 as host of the Kalb Report, an award-winning interview program launched in 1994 by the National Press Club and broadcast by Public Television stations across the country.

A Different Russia is the 17th book that Kalb has authored or co-authored. It is also the third in a series of his memoirs, preceded in 2017 by The Year I Was Peter the Great: 1956―Khrushchev, Stalin’s Ghost, and a Young American in Russia, and in 2021 by Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War. In A Different Russia, Kalb based his reporting on his daily CBS broadcasts, covering the growing confrontation between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and American President John F. Kennedy.

1. What prompted you to write a third memoir and to publish it with Modern Memoirs? What did you want to share in this book that you had not covered in other books?

Marvin Kalb: My story as a Moscow correspondent for CBS during the Cold War was not finished in the first two volumes. The first volume introduced me to Moscow as a very young attaché at the American Embassy. It was then that I met Khrushchev, and he began referring to me as “Peter the Great.” The second volume followed my career at CBS, where I was hired by Edward R. Murrow. The third and final volume opens with me in Moscow, covering such major stories as the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The book of course discusses many other stories, including what it was like to live in a communist capital during dangerous moments of the Cold War.

2. In a 2017 PBS News Hour interview, you commented on the nature of memoir writing, saying that writing about yourself is “much more difficult than writing about the world or an event.” Why is that so? How did you overcome that difficulty?

Marvin Kalb: I’ve spent most of my life writing about the world—political upheavals, wars, prominent personalities, such as Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Kissinger, Khrushchev, Golda Meir, and many others. As a journalist, I considered myself detached from the subject, whether politics or presidents. My job was to cover the story, not be part of it. When I write about myself, I am the story, and how can I possibly be objective about myself?

In this book, I was helped by the fact that much of my source material was in my broadcasts. I kept copies of most of them. By referring to a broadcast, rather than relying on my memory, I had an “objective” source. This was very helpful, and it put distance between me and my copy. The broadcast provided a source, a basis in fact. I try to be objective in this memoir, and I hope I succeed, but I don’t know. I leave that judgment to the reader.

3. When you were living and working in Moscow in the early 1960s, CBS was entering a new era in broadcast news, transitioning from radio to television, or “from Murrow to Cronkite,” as you said. From your perspective, what, if anything, did the press, as a service or product, gain or lose with that innovation?

“The rise of social media and reckless political comments have encouraged a deep distrust of what is seen as “fake news.” Disinformation spreads. Facts are challenged. News is undervalued.”

Marvin Kalb: I was new to journalism as journalism in the early 1960s swung into a new world of TV news. The old world was print and radio, staffed by such giants as Murrow and Sevareid. The new world was yet to build its own giants, reporters such as Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw, and Koppel, and I slipped into this new world as a Moscow correspondent, trying to manage 16 mm cameras and radio microphones and “live” broadcasts. At the same time, I worked for The Sunday Times of London, wrote books, and balanced the old world of print journalism with the new world of radio/TV news, and now, God help us, social media.

The new technology provided immediacy. The TV viewer had the sense, watching the film, that he or she was with you at the moment something happened or something was said. But my strong impression was that with radio, the reporter had more time to think about content before writing it down. Murrow waited 48 hours before reporting on his visit to a concentration camp. He needed the time to think about what he’d seen before saying a word. With the new technology came speed, demanding quick commentary, and that was admired, but it often discouraged more serious contemplation of the meaning, the background, of a newsworthy event.

4. The title and contents of your book invite a comparison of Khrushchev’s Russia to that of Putin’s today. You write, “Khrushchev reached out to the West, hoping on his terms for better relations and broader exchanges. He called such relations ‘peaceful coexistence.’ Putin turned his back on the West, considering the United States to be an ‘evil,’ ‘hegemonic’ enemy, constantly plotting against Russia.” In the years you were there under Khrushchev’s leadership, how was it a different Russia for American journalists, as well? In what ways did you conduct your work that would not be allowed today?

Marvin Kalb: The principal difference for a journalist between Khrushchev’s Russia and Putin’s Russia is Khrushchev did not see a Western reporter as an enemy; in fact, on many occasions he welcomed interviews, enjoyed open Q&As with reporters, didn’t lock up reporters, though he did on occasion expel one or two. Putin keeps his distance, rarely gives an interview, never welcomes an exchange with a journalist, and imprisons those he dislikes. He’s much more like Stalin, removed, distant, untouchable.

With Khrushchev, I was one of 16 American journalists based in Moscow. Our reporting provided the American people with essential information about their principal adversary. With Putin, there are occasional journalistic visits to Moscow, but few if any reporters are actually based there. The upshot is that the American people, unfortunately, know a lot less about their adversary. And this is a dangerous void in an increasingly dangerous time.

5. You open your book with a dedication “to the defense of personal truth and national credibility,” and you close with a prayer that your grandchildren “will grow up in a strong democratic America able to live side by side in peaceful competition with a Russia that is true to its best traditions.” In this age of disinformation and “fake news,” what can American journalists do to uphold the strength of the Fourth Estate in their own country?

Marvin Kalb: In my opinion, American democracy now rests on the shoulders of American journalism. Unfortunately, American journalism is gradually losing the support of the American people. The journalist joins the Congressman among the least admired professionals in the country. The rise of social media and reckless political comments have encouraged a deep distrust of what is seen as “fake news.” Disinformation spreads. Facts are challenged. News is undervalued. The next four years will determine whether the journalist has the strength and determination to fight back and recapture the high ground of credibility and trust he once enjoyed. At the moment this appears to be a distant but not unattainable goal.

Much will ultimately depend less on the journalist than on the owner of his news outlet. Owners increasingly seem more concerned about their relationship to the president than about their outlet’s coverage of the president. They seem to want to avoid offending the president. They want good relations with the Trump White House, meaning they prefer in the long run less critical coverage of the president. I’m told a fear now runs through the newsrooms of American journalism. If true, what a shame!

Liz Sonnenberg is staff genealogist for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

A Modern Memoirs Sabbatical

Sabbatical. That was something I’d only heard of in academia, when my friends who were professors would take off to Italy or Hawaii or South Africa. But a business sabbatical?

I had worked at Modern Memoirs for 15 years already when the founder and president, Kitty Axelson-Berry, retired and sold the business to Megan and Sean St. Marie. It was a major transition, and there were a lot of unknowns. I stayed on as director of publishing, since I really enjoyed my work and knew I was needed.

Within about a year, Megan, my new boss, told me she was thinking about some way in which to honor my longevity in the business. That said a lot about her as president of a company, since I barely knew her. “How about at the 20-year mark?” she asked. “In 2024 it’ll be 30 years for the business and 20 for you.” That was still several years out and elusive to my thinking. I just nodded my head. Maybe a party, I suggested. (Yes, they threw me a party!) But she was thinking of something even more significant. A sabbatical.

And actually, whether Megan knew it or not, this was an extension of the company culture initiated by Kitty Axelson-Berry. With her no-nonsense, get-it-done attitude, Kitty was also humorous, authentic, ethical, generous, and she intuitively instilled a family-friendly environment before that term was even coined. It was a small, growing business back then and we juggled a lot, but we were also given regular, dedicated time to work on our own personal projects in the office. We had team meeting lunches. If things came up in my family, Kitty would shoo me out the door: “Go be a good mother.” When she herself went out for café meetings, she’d say, “I’m being a good friend.” When I developed back problems, she gave me a month off and a local gym membership so I could use their pool for recovery. (This is the main reason I improved, and I still go to the pool twice a week.)

It is these values that make all the difference in a company culture. In the past five years, Megan has illuminated these values, combining her speed-skater motivation with compassion, lead-by-example management, and a collaborative, inclusive style. So when she presented a brand-new sabbatical policy in January of 2024, just as she said she would, I surely felt honored. The language in her letter speaks for itself: “We are very glad to mark this milestone for you with a sabbatical that will allow you to immerse yourself in the kind of heart-led work that you have enabled so many other writers to enjoy for the past two decades.”

“Self-reflection is as important a phase of human development as learning to crawl.”

This opened a door. What if I did that kind of “heart-led work” on my own? What if I got to create some kind of memoir? Well, let’s be practical: just one part of my life, not the whole thing! Five years? A decade? After all, Kitty had managed to write a memoir about a decade of her life, and I witnessed the creation of that book, with all its ups and downs. But all of a sudden every client’s voice came to me with a barrage of doubts and questions I’ve heard over and over: Isn’t this vain? Who really cares? It’s all about me! I’m not a writer! Who’s going to read this? Is it any good? Etc. etc. etc.

I had to give myself the talking-to I’ve told many, many clients: Self-reflection is as important a phase of human development as learning to crawl. Your children or maybe your children’s children will care. And yes, it’s all about you, but there’s so much they don’t know about you! You don’t even have to consider yourself a “writer” to express yourself in words. Ray Bradbury said, “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens.”

With that, I am arriving at a plan for a March/April 2025 sabbatical. Some of my thoughts:

I hope to write about a time in my life that I consider to be the most explorative—young adulthood. I also hope to experiment with alternative forms of memoir. People often ask me, “What is a memoir? What should it include?” And I have always said, “It’s whatever you want it to be.” Of course I’m not talking about a bestseller, commercial memoir. That has some formula to it. But your own memoir? Make it yours. Could I do that? I love the idea that memoir can include poetry, prose, journaling, essay, short story, artwork, song, and even dance, all the things I love in life!

A few books come to mind that have influenced my thinking on form and style: Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar. Bone Black by bell hooks. The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr. Anything by Anais Nin. The Afterlife by Donald Antrim. Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.

I plan to write every day. Read every day. Walk every day. Swim twice a week. I hope to mix in some personal interviews with a few family members and friends about that period of my life, reconnect with these people, perhaps go deeper with them. I hope to include some photography on location.

After writing all this, I’m feeling shy and protective, and I don’t want to say much more about what my intentions are. Spontaneity is my greatest ally. But I do want to thank you, my bosses past and present, and all of you clients and authors whom I have witnessed, walked alongside at times, and who have inspired me with your determination to get a few (thousand) words on paper and create the tangible, priceless gift of yourself. I know it isn’t easy. But I have seen the rewards. I’ll give it a whirl.

***

A note from Modern Memoirs: Rest assured that business at Modern Memoirs will continue as usual while Ali is away in March and April 2025. Though we will miss her, careful planning has ensured that the rest of our close-knit team is ready and able to handle the full range of her responsibilities. We are all committed to ensuring the smooth progression of client projects as we wish Ali well in her creative pursuits during this well-deserved sabbatical. —Megan St. Marie

Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client Brian L. Dunsirn

Brian L. Dunsirn is a repeat client with Modern Memoirs. In 2000, he and his brother commissioned the publication of I Dunno, the memoir of their father, Bob Dunsirn. In 2024, Brian L. Dunsirn returned to publish his own Commissioned Memoir entitled The Sky’s the Limit. The recent project took one year and two months from the day we started it to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked Dunsirn to reflect on what the publication process was like for him both times, and what it has meant to share these books with others.




1. What has been the importance to you and other descendants of your father to have his life stories gathered and preserved in a book?

Brian Dunsirn: I feel fortunate that we were able to capture many of the incredible stories from my father’s life. Picking up his book and rereading chapters reminds me of his humble beginnings and how he forged ahead in difficult times to ultimately achieve the American dream. His life was a catalyst for me to achieve and to believe that anything is possible, especially during times of difficulty. I highly value his memoir because it was something he completed at my request. It was done for his children and their families, reminding them of the values and goals he believed in.

2. How did you want your memoir to be similar to his? How did you want it to be different?

Brian Dunsirn: In many ways my father’s memoir was a history of his life challenges. It also communicated his love for his family. The rough childhood and war years had an impressionable impact that shaped his drive and desire to survive. I wanted my book to reflect how I was able to take my dad’s foundation and build on it, both with love of family and entrepreneurial drive, to succeed in business. The objective of my book was to help my grandchildren understand that although we faced challenges along the way, we learned from those struggles and built a lasting legacy of love, financial success, happiness, and a true belief that “the sky’s the limit.”

3. How was your book enhanced by having your wife, Susan Dunsirn, contribute chapters?

Brian Dunsirn: It helped convey how we worked with each other to achieve family goals and aspirations. Partnering together to write my memoir was similar to how we partner in life. Love for each other and support of our daughters, and now of our grandchildren, provides satisfaction beyond our dreams.

“Recalling the many people throughout my life who helped me along the way was incredibly fulfilling.”

4. In the preface to your memoir, you say that the title, The Sky’s the Limit, is a metaphor for your entire life. How is that so?

Brian Dunsirn: My personal philosophy is that anything is possible if you have the passion, skills, and drive to achieve. Learning how to fly an airplane at the age of 44 has enhanced my life in many ways. It reinforced my belief that “starting with the end in mind” has consistently produced results for me and my family. Founding, growing, and eventually selling several businesses allowed me to learn what is ultimately possible.

I Dunno (Modern Memoirs 2000), the memoir of Bob Dunsirn, Brian Dunsirn’s father

5. You jumpstarted your project by writing with Storyworth. What made you want to move beyond that platform to engage Modern Memoirs’ services, including interviews, editing, and design?

Brian Dunsirn: Ever since helping my dad with his memoir in 2000, I had a desire to document my own life stories. Eighteen months before contacting Modern Memoirs, my daughter gifted a Storyworth subscription to me. I wrote a few paragraphs to each of the weekly questions sent by Storyworth. At the end of the year, I had a collection of around 50 short life stories. Although interesting, there was no real connection between stories, just questions and answers. I wanted something more comprehensive, a novel so to speak. I knew that Megan and her team could help me with this challenge. I created an outline of the major parts of my life that I wanted to communicate to my audience of family, friends, and business associates. We used the collection of Storyworth questions and answers as a foundation for many of the chapters in my book.

As I look back at the experience of publishing The Sky’s the Limit, my initial desire was to help my family understand what I did to achieve success and happiness in my first 65 years of life. I didn’t expect the feeling of satisfaction received from the process itself. Recalling the many people throughout my life who helped me along the way was incredibly fulfilling. As I presented final copies of my book to many of these “life-long friends,” they were thankful for the recognition, and I was pleased to communicate my appreciation.

Liz Sonnenberg is staff genealogist for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

Meeting My Grandparents Through Family Stories

A Blog Post by
Publishing Intern Lily Fitzgerald

Publishing Intern Lily Fitzgerald’s maternal grandparents, George and Dolores Furtado, 1979

“They would have loved you.”

My mom and I were looking at photos of my maternal grandparents, George and Dolores Furtado, when she said these words to me, her voice soft and wistful. One snapshot was taken at my aunt’s wedding, showing my grandfather, tall and tanned in a grey suit, and my grandmother in a floor-length pink dress. My mom remarked on how fashionable my grandmother was and said, “She would have loved that you sew and would have taken you shopping for clothes all the time!” She also reminisced about my grandfather’s love of cooking and said he would have prepared my favorite foods, like lobster and shrimp. “I wish you’d had the chance to meet them,” my mother said.

“They would have loved you.”

Both of my maternal grandparents died before I was born, and my grandmother didn’t live long enough to meet any of her grandchildren. She passed away in 1987 at the age of 57 from pancreatic cancer, and my grandfather died in 1993 at the age of 63 from prostate cancer. Their children miss them every day, and, in a different way, those in my generation who never met them miss them, too. With no grandparents to spoil us grandchildren, or to tell stories of the past, my sister, cousins, and I grew up with a sense of loss. But no matter how empty the spot at the head of the family may have seemed when I was growing up, my mother and her siblings helped fill the void with memories and stories that brought my grandparents nearer to us all.

My grandfather was born George Furtado in 1929 and was raised on the island of São Miguel in the Azores. His family were rabbit farmers, and he came to the United States at fifteen after his father passed away. Settling in Somerville, Massachusetts, he began working as a barber and training to be a carpenter. My grandmother was born Dolores Cravo in 1930 and was raised one town over from Somerville in Cambridge. She was the daughter of two Portuguese immigrants and grew up surrounded by the Portuguese community there. She went to technical school for design and then worked with a fashion designer in Boston, where she would plan outfits and help models get ready for fashion shows.

George and Dolores met while my grandfather was playing soccer with his friends. My grandmother and her friends were walking in the area and decided to watch the match. Family lore has it that when their eyes met it was love at first sight. They started dating, and then they got married in 1952.

My grandmother planned to continue working for the designer after getting married. Then she got pregnant within the first year of marriage, and my grandfather was drafted to serve in the Korean War. Due to his absence, my grandmother had to stay home with their first son as she waited for the day her husband would return.

George Furtado during his service in the Korean War, c. 1953

My grandfather’s army service in Korea was anything but easy. He rose in the ranks to become a sergeant and was in charge of tanks, but my family never knew much about his experiences until after he died and an uncle told them the truth at his wake. They learned that his team was captured by the enemy and held in a prisoner-of-war camp. We believe he was the only member of his squad to survive, but he never talked about his time in Korea due to what would now be called PTSD. However, he was awarded many medals for his service and was proud that he served our country.

After the war, my grandfather returned home to his wife and child and bought a three-family home in Somerville. While he worked, my grandmother stayed home with their growing family, which would eventually include six children. They sometimes struggled with money, but they always managed to scrape by, providing their children with a safe and happy life. They worked hard and found comfort and hope in their Catholic faith.

“…memories can change the way we see the world and help us understand those around us and those who came before us.”

Beyond their religion, my grandparents also found joy in the little things in life. My grandfather loved to prepare food, and especially seafood. He went fishing in Gloucester, he ate tinned sardines, and he tried to entice his children to eat escargot and clams. One of his favorite meals was a Christmas Eve dish called the Seven Fishes, which he prepared with shrimp, lobsters, crabs, tuna, clams, quahogs, and octopus. He also grew grapes in the backyard to make his own wine in the basement. Apparently, it was sometimes a bit too strong, and after sharing it with friends, they would stagger home. For her part, although my grandmother no longer worked in design after getting married, she never gave up her love of clothes and fashion. She always made sure that her children were dressed well and looked good, spending time sewing and shopping. Then, after her children grew up, she got a job as a nurse’s aide at Mount Auburn Hospital. There she worked in the labor and delivery unit, finding joy in caring for newborn babies and their mothers.

Although they left this world much too soon, my grandparents live on in family stories, proving that memories can change the way we see the world and help us understand those around us and those who came before us. The vivid memories my mom, aunts, and uncles have shared give me a clear picture of the loving, creative, and hardworking people their parents were. So now when I recall my mother saying, “I wish you’d had a chance to meet them,” I can say with thanks that in some ways, I feel as though I have.

Lily Fitzgerald is publishing intern for Modern Memoirs, Inc.

MODERN MEMOIRS, INC.

417 West Street, Suite 104, Amherst, MA 01002

413-253-2353