A Woman of Valor A Woman of Strength

As An Author In My Own Right I Have Come To Realize That If Something Is Not Written Down Or Recorded It Is Lost To Posterity Sooner Or Later As Those Who Remember The Story Die Off One By One. Then The Family Loses Its History And Its Lore And All That Has Gone Before Is Virtually Lost To Future Generations. In A Fundamental And Almost Visceral Sense It Is What Humanizes Us On This Planet And Gives Us A Sense Of Identity Among Billions And Billions Of Other Earthlike Creatures Like Ourselves. Whether We Like It Or Not We All Stand On The Shoulders Of Generations Of Relatives Gone By. We Who Are Alive Now Are Like The Prism Through Which They Shine Into Future Generations. And This Is Not Only True Of Our Genes And Our Dna In A Physical Or Chemical Sense Which We Hand On To Our Children And Grandchildren It Is Also True Of Our Customs And Traditions The Stories That Really And Truly Connect Us To One Another The Stories That Connect Us To Past Generations And Generations Yet To Come In Our Family’S Lineage. I Have Seen This Happen Time And Time Again And Grieved Over By Others Who Could Have Saved The Day As It Were By Taking The Time And Making The Effort To Write Down Somewhere The Tales The Stories The Anecdotes The Remembrances Of Times Gone By So That Future Generations Can Build On A Lasting Testament—Much As Christians Today Continue The Story Began In The Book Of Acts In The New Testament Nearly Two Thousand Years Ago. That Is One Reason That I Have Taken The Time And Made The Effort To Record These Stories For Current And Future Members Of Our Immediate And Extended Family Simply Because They Are In Danger Of Being Lost. I Wanted To Rescue Them And Keep Them Alive For Another Day And Another Time So That Those Who Come After Us Can Remember And Recollect The Glorious And Wonderful History That Has Gone Before. It Was The Great Spanish Philosopher And Novelist George Santayana Who Said “Those Who Cannot Remember The Past Are Condemned To Repeat It.” This Is Precisely The Difference Between Amnesia (Forgetfulness) And Anamnesis (Remembrance) And It Happens When We Forget Our Stories Our Memories And Our History. We Have Nothing To Guide Us Into The Future And No Sign Posts To Tell Who We Are Or Where We Are In The Great Journey Through This Life. I Know Of At Least One Great Grandchild Who Is Absolutely Fascinated By These Stories And Can Almost Recall Them Word For Word Once You Tell Her The Details In A Simple And Straightforward Manner. Her Mind Is Almost Like A Sponge And She Can Enthrall You With Her Sense Of Remembrance And Hold You Spellbound As You Hear Her Retell The Incidents In Her Own Words—Like The Fish Head Soup Story Between Her Grandfather And Her Great Great Grandfather Or How Her Great Great Grandmother Was Killed By A Kick In The Belly From A Feisty Cow While She Was Pregnant. One Day They Too Will Add Their Own Stories To What I Have Written Here And It Will Be A Great Compendium Guiding The Next Generation And Succeeding Generations Providing Context And Lending Color And Texture To Their Own Achievements And Accomplishments. It Is My Fervent Hope That This Tradition Will Continue Unabated In The Decades And Centuries To Come.