Preserving Family Legacies: The Heartwarming Power of Interviewing Loved Ones
Back in 2020 when we were all locked down, like so many others, my 90-year-old grandmother was miserable. She was isolated and lonely. In an effort to lift her spirits and provide some entertainment for her, I asked her if I could interview her. It’s something I have been wanting to do for some time and felt this was the perfect opportunity.
Fortunately, she was up for it and it ended up being the most fun conversation. I got to ask her all kinds of things that I never really got the chance to talk to her about before.
You know how it is at family gatherings. There is always so much going on and so many people. For most of my life, if we were all together, she was huffing it in the kitchen to keep everyone fed. That woman would never sit down.
That of course changed as she got older and we all took care of her. The tables turned and it was us not sitting down. Which is how it should be.
I learned so much about her and we laughed so much (even giggled a bit) throughout the course of the interview. It is one of my favorite memories. I had no idea that such a simple act would end up being so meaningful for my entire family.
My grandmother passed earlier this year (2023) and I was able to share the interview with all of our family and friends at her memorial. It meant the world to everyone to hear her stories, in her own words, with HER VOICE.
It made such an impact that my husband and I have decided to interview each other every 10 years because there is so much we want our kids to know and we want them to hear it in our voices. We don’t want to wait until someone is sick or super old. Although, even then, record their voices so you always have it. You’ll miss that voice when it’s gone.
So if you’d like to interview your family, which I highly encourage you to do, here is how I do it for my own family:
Put together a list of questions you’d like to ask them. I pre-plan all of the questions I am going to ask. The questions you ask is totally up to you but I encourage you to not make it too overwhelming. If it goes on too long, it will be hard to edit and difficult to share later. I think 15-20 minuts of interviewing is perfect. Here are some sample questions:
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
What is the best book you've ever read?
What is the legacy you hope to leave behind?
What brings you the most joy?
What are you most proud of in your life?
What is the advice you would give to younger generations?
Record their answers! You have many options of doing this these days but here are some ways I record my own family:
For Apple users, it can be as simple as using the voice recorder app on your phone.
Do a Zoom call and record it.
Put them on speaker phone and record it on a microphone that hooks up to your computer. This is the one I use.
Edit the interview. My grandmother was 90 when I recorded her. I’ve also done interviews with individuals that aren’t in the best health. I use Adobe Audition or Audacity to clean up the audio. This essentially means I take out long gaps, throat clearing, coughing, etc. You can also remove any questions that fell flat.
Then from there, you can just keep the audio as is, add music to it, add pictures and make it into a slideshow. It’s totally up to you! I would just make sure you have it saved on a USB or hard drive to make sure you don’t lose it.
I’ve had some requests to put together family interviews for other families, which I am totally open to doing. (I love hearing the stories and gaining the wisdom.) If this is something you’d like me to do for a member of your family, send me a quick email so we can chat more about what you are looking for and how I may be able to help.