So I walk down memory lane
'Cause I love running into you
"How are you?", "I'm doing great"
And I have you back for a few

You know I'd walk for miles
For that smile not to end
That's why I walk down memory lane
'Cause it's the only place
That I have you again

❤A favorite old hymn of my father's. "In the Garden" A favorite of my mother's. "Haven of Rest"

I consider my "roots" from East Tennessee and Bell County, KY. Many of my direct line moved to Monroe, MI as early as 1923 and that is where our line also starts to include the State of Michigan. My parents/families moved from the South to Monroe, MI in the 50s, as many were doing at that time. My parents met there, married and moved to the Grand Haven area, where they bought a forty acre farm about 1960. I owe it to my parents for choosing this beautiful area to live for a time. They stayed 17 years, then moved back South and only I chose to come back. Only my direct line will continue nearby. In the 1990s the internet/web became available and became a boom for genealogists. I started off with a webtv and took it upon myself to do as much as possible to preserve our families past, that they will be remembered. Miller/Cox/Brogan/Parks and Traxler. I like to think that a future ancestor, a great-grandchild perhaps, will find my work here and be pleased and remember me for it.
I visited with those in our line to gather old family photos and stories ; before those who could share them were gone and we lost forever these personal accounts and photos. So many of those that shared so much are gone now. They gave much more than facts and data. They gave priceless treasures in old photos and stories. I love photography and art of people and places.
"I love old photographs of people. A captured moment in time. I'm fascinated by the fact that you can gaze into the face of someone who no longer exists, and yet can relate to their humanity."
I chose Find-a-grave first because it was free to all, which made it most accessible. I also loved the layout, the vintage feel and you are a part of a community that had shared "this place" together for years.
I also find it a special place to remember old friends and those who have touched my life in some way. A place created to stop by in their memory. I also love hearing from the occasional distant kin that finds me here.

It makes me a little sad to realize that most of my immediate line will have little ties with the areas of my childhood of TN and Monroe, MI, but those ties are preserved here. My favorite places are Cosby and Gatlinburg. My mother loved Monroe and Gatlinburg.

From a man of Ninety-one "the hardest part of living to an old age is that most of your friends and relatives are not there to share it with you."

I like this quote I saw today......
"Have you ever thought about this?
In 100 years we will all be buried with our relatives and friends.
Our descendants will hardly, if at all, know who we were, nor will they remember us. How many of us know our grandfather's father?
After we die, we will be remembered for a few more years, then we are just a portrait on someone's bookshelf, and a few years later our history, photos and deeds disappear in history's oblivion. We won't even be memories."

True for many. But I like to think our works on Findagrave will leave a footprint to follow and we WILL be memories to some far off future generation.

WHEN I'M GONE
Then forget to grieve for my going
I would not have you sad for a day
But in summer just gather a rose
And remember the place where I lay

And come in the shade of evening
When the sun paints the sky in the west
Stand for a few moments beside me
And remember only my best.

So I walk down memory lane
'Cause I love running into you
"How are you?", "I'm doing great"
And I have you back for a few

You know I'd walk for miles
For that smile not to end
That's why I walk down memory lane
'Cause it's the only place
That I have you again

❤A favorite old hymn of my father's. "In the Garden" A favorite of my mother's. "Haven of Rest"

I consider my "roots" from East Tennessee and Bell County, KY. Many of my direct line moved to Monroe, MI as early as 1923 and that is where our line also starts to include the State of Michigan. My parents/families moved from the South to Monroe, MI in the 50s, as many were doing at that time. My parents met there, married and moved to the Grand Haven area, where they bought a forty acre farm about 1960. I owe it to my parents for choosing this beautiful area to live for a time. They stayed 17 years, then moved back South and only I chose to come back. Only my direct line will continue nearby. In the 1990s the internet/web became available and became a boom for genealogists. I started off with a webtv and took it upon myself to do as much as possible to preserve our families past, that they will be remembered. Miller/Cox/Brogan/Parks and Traxler. I like to think that a future ancestor, a great-grandchild perhaps, will find my work here and be pleased and remember me for it.
I visited with those in our line to gather old family photos and stories ; before those who could share them were gone and we lost forever these personal accounts and photos. So many of those that shared so much are gone now. They gave much more than facts and data. They gave priceless treasures in old photos and stories. I love photography and art of people and places.
"I love old photographs of people. A captured moment in time. I'm fascinated by the fact that you can gaze into the face of someone who no longer exists, and yet can relate to their humanity."
I chose Find-a-grave first because it was free to all, which made it most accessible. I also loved the layout, the vintage feel and you are a part of a community that had shared "this place" together for years.
I also find it a special place to remember old friends and those who have touched my life in some way. A place created to stop by in their memory. I also love hearing from the occasional distant kin that finds me here.

It makes me a little sad to realize that most of my immediate line will have little ties with the areas of my childhood of TN and Monroe, MI, but those ties are preserved here. My favorite places are Cosby and Gatlinburg. My mother loved Monroe and Gatlinburg.

From a man of Ninety-one "the hardest part of living to an old age is that most of your friends and relatives are not there to share it with you."

I like this quote I saw today......
"Have you ever thought about this?
In 100 years we will all be buried with our relatives and friends.
Our descendants will hardly, if at all, know who we were, nor will they remember us. How many of us know our grandfather's father?
After we die, we will be remembered for a few more years, then we are just a portrait on someone's bookshelf, and a few years later our history, photos and deeds disappear in history's oblivion. We won't even be memories."

True for many. But I like to think our works on Findagrave will leave a footprint to follow and we WILL be memories to some far off future generation.

WHEN I'M GONE
Then forget to grieve for my going
I would not have you sad for a day
But in summer just gather a rose
And remember the place where I lay

And come in the shade of evening
When the sun paints the sky in the west
Stand for a few moments beside me
And remember only my best.