Little Treasures From the Past
I was unpacking a box tonight when I came across a cassette tape my Great Grandpa Watson mailed to my mother in 1979. We’re coming up on 30 years ago. I sure do miss my great-grandpa. I think I was about 12 when he died. We were as close as we could be. He used to write me letters when I was very young. He used a typewriter that had both black and red ribbons — very high tech at the time, those ribbons.
I’m going to find a cassette player tomorrow and start transcribing the message for the tape. It’s too precious a keepsake to let go to time. Tape only lasts so long.
My dad found the diary his father kept in WW2 as he traveled to Italy. He was killed on the beaches almost as soon as they landed. It’s a short journal, but it says so much. He speaks constantly about how proud he is of his son, my father. Dad was not even two when his father was killed in action. On a side note, he just recently got to see his dad’s grave in Enzio, Italy a couple of years ago. It is heart breaking to see the pictures of him crouched, touching the stone for the first time.
My dad and I have spent endless hours researching family history. I can trace my ancestors in my surname line back to the 1350’s.
My pioint is that when I transcribe this tape and enter it to my family tree software; I will giving generations to come a little look at one of their own distant ancestors.
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