Hazel’s Family Stories

Mom’s Boxes Part 4: Grandma’s Lawn Chairs

By Hazel Thornton | October 16, 2017 |

I wrote this blog post for The Photo Managers (when it was called APPO), but it’s essentially Mom’s Boxes Part 4, since I found most of the photos in Mom’s boxes. Photos keep memories alive. And they tell the story of a family over time. They show how it grew and how it changed. Some…

Mom’s Boxes Part 3: Trip down memory lane

By Hazel Thornton | August 28, 2017 |

My brother, Mike, and I have agreed there’s something about going through Mom’s boxes that we hadn’t fully bargained for: Going down Mom’s memory lane includes going down our own memory lanes. This can be heartwarming, and great fun…and also embarrassing, sad, and exhausting. It feels like my life is flashing before my eyes in…

Mom’s Boxes Part 1: The shed

By Hazel Thornton | July 3, 2017 |

When my mom died, in 2001, she left us 33 boxes of scrapbooks. Not 33 scrapbooks; 33 moving boxes full of them. By scrapbooks I mean albums, binders, and notebooks full of memorabilia — photos, cards, letters, memoirs, and souvenirs. And who knows what else? These are in addition to the scrapbooks and photo albums she…

Thornton Family History Lost & Found

By Hazel Thornton | June 17, 2016 |

Have you ever lost part of your family history and found it again? Do you still have unsolved mysteries that intrigue you? In Puzzling Out Your Family History I talked about the joys and challenges of doing one’s own genealogy research. In The Gift of an Organized Family Tree I describe one of the several…