Current Writing Project:
What's Remembered, Lives -

“There are things,” my Grandma Winnie would say, “better left forgotten.” That was always her response to questions about her life. When she died my father and I sorted through a box of photos and came across a letter dated 1911 in San Francisco. The letterhead was from The California Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “There are things,” I heard my Grandma Winnie say in my head, “better left forgotten.”
The letter began:
“Dear Madam,
Complying with your request for a brief history of these two children...”
In just a few paragraphs the letter revealed a family who had survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. It talked about a mother dying of “a cancer of the throat” in October of 1907, and shortly thereafter of a little girl and her brother taken away from their father who was, “...a man of violent temper and intemperate habits.” I tucked the letter away with the photos and other mementos of my grandmother. I was curious, of course, but every time I thought about it I would hear her voice, “Better left forgotten.” Years later I came across the letter again and decided they had been forgotten long enough...follow my journey of discovery and writing this new book at my "What's Remembered, Lives!" blog.
The letter began:
“Dear Madam,
Complying with your request for a brief history of these two children...”
In just a few paragraphs the letter revealed a family who had survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. It talked about a mother dying of “a cancer of the throat” in October of 1907, and shortly thereafter of a little girl and her brother taken away from their father who was, “...a man of violent temper and intemperate habits.” I tucked the letter away with the photos and other mementos of my grandmother. I was curious, of course, but every time I thought about it I would hear her voice, “Better left forgotten.” Years later I came across the letter again and decided they had been forgotten long enough...follow my journey of discovery and writing this new book at my "What's Remembered, Lives!" blog.