When I was growing up my mother, my siblings and I lived with my grandmother. Her home was full of old family photos, heirlooms and stories. Family meant a lot to her and she passed that on to me. I was the only one of us kids who enjoyed going with her to decorate at all the cemeteries on Memorial Day. It seemed like we stopped at every little rural cemetery there was, but it was on those trips that I learned all about my family ancestry. To this day I still visit the cemeteries from time to time, partly for ancestry research, partly to reminisce.

Consequently, I have become the keeper of the family stories, photos and family tree. I've been working on my ancestry for about 12 years, now, and Findagrave has been an invaluable resource in breaking through some brick walls. It has also introduced me to the family my great-great-grandfather left behind in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia when he headed west, just before the Civil War. Now I can get on Findagrave and "visit" their graves, as well!

I am 58 and still work some crazy hours, but I do try to travel some on the weekends for ancestry research. I live in Wichita, Kansas and often travel to surrounding areas (Kingman, Hutchinson, Newton, Moundridge and Goessel) to do research . If you have a photo request in those towns, or any rural cemeteries in between, feel free to contact me. Smetimes time and money constraints may keep me from immediately fulfilling a request that requires travel, but anything in the city of Wichita can be fulfilled within a few days.