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Life Stories and Eulogies
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Martha Rasche
Apr 25, 20172 min read
Living, and Dying, in Nursing Homes
A woman who enrolled in a Life Stories class in January 2016 enrolled for a second time last fall. She is serious about her writing and...
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Martha Rasche
Mar 9, 20171 min read
Joan's Recipes
Joan, my mom’s cousin and a close family friend, was a great cook, and the sweet treats she made were ahhh-mazing. I remember from my...
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Martha Rasche
Feb 16, 20171 min read
His Excuse Was Amnesia. What's Yours?
My Friday morning Life Stories classes meet in the library of the local senior center. During a class last week, a gentleman came in to...
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Martha Rasche
Feb 9, 20172 min read
Laughing While You Write
Writing your life story is an opportunity like no other to look back on and share funny moments. A 90-year-old client and I shared many...
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Martha Rasche
Jan 25, 20171 min read
Bridging Generation Gaps
I’ve helped seniors write their life stories through which the writers’ grandchildren have learned that depression, heart disease and...
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Martha Rasche
Jan 18, 20171 min read
Don't Give In to Feeling Overwhelmed
These dreary winter days provide the perfect time to start writing your life stories. That is how I think of them, a succession of short...
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Martha Rasche
Oct 20, 20161 min read
Making History Real
Life stories bring history home. They make history REAL. A couple of guys who were in one of my classes last year served our country in...
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Martha Rasche
Oct 13, 20161 min read
Sharing to Help Others
At one level, your life story is not about you at all – but about how your experiences can help others. When I was diagnosed with cancer...
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Martha Rasche
Oct 6, 20161 min read
Intergenerational Connections
Writing your life story isn’t about vanity or being egotistical. Rather, it is a way of connecting to future generations and connecting...
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Martha Rasche
Sep 29, 20161 min read
Avoid the Telephone Game
Writing your life story allows you to share it in your own words, from your own perspective. Are you familiar with the telephone game?...
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Martha Rasche
Sep 23, 20162 min read
Um, It's Later Than You Think
It’s officially fall, and school is back in session. My Life Stories classes are back in session also. Hard to believe we’re already...
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Martha Rasche
Aug 3, 20163 min read
My Parents' Courtship
Ernest Rasche and Mary Ann Beckman started dating in 1944, the year before Ernest went into the Army. They never dated anyone but each...
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Martha Rasche
May 16, 20162 min read
Remembering My Father
Today, the 20-year anniversary of my father's death, finds me contemplating that my niece and nephew who will graduate from high school...
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Martha Rasche
Mar 12, 20161 min read
Of nature, telephones and ice cream
On the last day of my nine-week Life Stories classes, I generally ask the participants to share with the group something of what they...
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Martha Rasche
Feb 3, 20162 min read
Generation to Generation
We're halfway through this round of Life Stories classes. On Day 1, a 72-year-old father of two said his children didn't know much about...
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Martha Rasche
Dec 24, 20151 min read
Another Christmas Memory
This story also was written by a Life Stories participant, Laverne Schuck, and shared by her at the county museum's Festival of Trees...
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Martha Rasche
Dec 23, 20152 min read
Christmas in the '20s
I love an old-fashioned Christmas story. This is part of one written in one of my classes by Anna Kern and shared by her at the opening...
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Martha Rasche
Dec 2, 20151 min read
Stories Multiply
About four years ago, I started taking harmonica lessons from a local woman who is now 91 years old. She enjoys playing the nursing home...
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Martha Rasche
Oct 30, 20151 min read
Another Mary
I've been helping Mary write her life story since last fall. She has done the writing; I have done the typing along with some rearranging...
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Martha Rasche
Sep 23, 20152 min read
Telling Mary's Story
Sometimes I forget how much I love the writing part of telling people's life stories. After the interviews are substantially complete and...
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