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| Addie Virginia Hayes Reese Sep 10, 1923 – Jul 16, 2017 |
Genealogy research usually focuses on events that happened long before, but how do we grieve and realize that it’s just genealogy in the making?
When my almost 94-year-old Grandmother, Addie Virginia Hayes Reese aka “Granny Reese”, passed away this past Sunday morning I was gripped by grief before wanting to write her story (obituary) and release it. Since my grandmother was from a small town south of Nashville, I started listening to Patsy Cline music to get in the right frame of mind. Once ready, I got my laptop and logged onto my Ancestry tree to begin creating what I hoped would accurately portray and respect her memory.
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| Virginia with my grandfather, Wilburn Petty Reese in 1942 |
As the words began to flow and her tale began to take shape, I felt much calmer and happier. It was cathartic to get her record down and feel like I was somehow contributing to her memory, rather than just being tortured with emotion. By taking action, it relieved the pain of losing her.
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| Virginia with my daughter Katie in 2016 |
Of course it also made me do a bit more research and complete her narrative just a bit more. That’s the thing, our genealogy is never done, it’s just waiting for another life event to happen.
JUL
2017