Real People: Family Legacies of the Lowman and Nash Lines
by Ruth M. Roy and Godfrey J. Ellis
In June of 1999, I heard about Mum’s newest project: a book recounting the family stories and memories that had meant so much to her over the years. It was to be called, Real People and she wanted me to type it for her. “If you can read my handwriting!” she added. Good question! She was legally blind and her British handwriting, already a little tricky to read, would be almost illegible to the grandchildren.
To be honest, I wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the project at first. Yet another autobiography? She had already written at least three separate write-ups of various aspects of her life. Why did we need another one? But, …if it kept her active and interested in life, then it was fine. And, of course, I would type it. I always tried to support Mum in her activities.
Well, I read the first dozen or so pages. It was really good! My mother was an extremely impressive woman with a bright, clear mind. Her memories were sharp, her writing style, crisp and fun, and her stories, not only interesting, but important. Merry (my wife) and I are avid genealogists and we quickly saw Mum’s memories as a family history treasure chest. Although she wanted to “tell stories” and not simply “pass on a genealogy,” family stories are genealogy. Dates and places are but a shell; it is the stories that bring flesh and blood to our ancestors, the people that have gone on before us. I have long believed that one of the most important purposes of any genealogical endeavor is to “turn the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). I take that very seriously! Without our hearts being turned to our ancestors, genealogical facts mean nothing. These were real people and, by learning about their lives, we can truly learn to love and appreciate those who made our existence possible.
As I read more of what my mother had written, I developed a vision of what Mum’s work could be. I hatched the plan of taking the three earlier (and much briefer) accounts and combining them with this new account. I could take the best written sentences and the most accurate facts and have something that was truly extraordinary. Not only that, but I could use the latest scanning and computer technology to digitize and integrate all the dozens and dozens of old family photos that, with no captions or explanations, had virtually no meaning and no value. Her text would bring those old photographs to life just as the photographs would bring her narrative memories and stories to life.
Soon, I was adding photos from the Internet and graphics from public domain software. Sally Patch in England contributed stories and memories and Barry volunteered to design the cover. Mum and I were in almost daily contact as I sought approval for changes, editing, and my own additional writing describing events of World War II and linking stories together in some kind of logical way. Mum willingly wrote new sections describing aunts and uncles she had missed or stories that needed more detail or a larger context. I even sent away for her and Dad’s Air Force records. The few hours of typing Mum’s handwritten scribbles stretched into hundreds of hours of work.
Mum’s project quickly became my project, too. I spent hours upon hours scanning all the old family photos, digitally “correcting” them by removing scratches, folds, spots of glue, and so on. In many cases, the old photos were either tiny, faded, or both. I enlarged them, added greater contrast, and outlined the pictures with colored borders to make them come to life. Some of the transformations were truly amazing. Although some photos were finished in a half-hour or so, many took two, three, even four hours of work each. Many of the graphics and cartoons were based on published sources but I redrew them to better illustrate Mum’s stories. I’m sure that I spent 300 hours on the photos and graphics alone, not counting the writing, printing, and bookbinding. And, in addition to the photos and graphics, I spent a lot of time securing copyright permissions (over 80 e-mails) for many of the photos and graphics that were copyrighted. Mum’s project took up almost every spare minute of time (and some time that wasn’t so spare!) throughout all of August and September of 1999.
The final result is what Mum wanted it to be: an account of the family legacies left by relatives who were real, flesh-and-blood people. But, more than that, it is the legacy of one Ruth Mary Pauline (Lowman) Roy, a woman we all honor and treasure. I am thrilled that it contains some of her poems, drawings, and paintings as well as her treasured stories about her ancestors and her own rich and instructive life. More than anything else, it is about her. And that is as it should be. Her intent was not to focus on herself, but on others, but in the process, the book illustrates her in a way that she didn’t look for, but I am glad to see. She was an extraordinary and highly talented person and one who was a huge inspiration to me throughout my life. She deserves to be recognized as much as any other person she writes about. Her life needs to be known, particularly by you, her children and grandchildren. Truly, the biggest legacy that has been passed on is her own legacy.
Because of its length (several hundred pages), I am not able to include the book here. If you would like to read this book, please contact me. I would be happy to send it to you as a series of PDF files. Alternately, you can view the entire book online through the Church’s FamilySearch site. Unfortunately, the version they have is only black and white, not full color. Still, it is there and you can access it at: