MEMOIRS
TAKE WRITERS, READERS ON EMOTIONAL JOURNEYS STORY & PHOTOS BY KAREN FINUCAN CLARKSON
10 Gazette SENIORS | May 2012
IT
was a letter from her son in the early 1980s that compelled Shirley M. Sandage to write her life story. “He asked questions I would not have been able to answer—about what I believe, think is important or wish I had done—until I wrote that memoir,” says the 84-year-old Frederick resident. As Sandage shares her motivation with the 13 students gathered for her weekly class—Tales for the Grandchildren, offered through Frederick Community College’s Institute for Learning in Retirement—they speak of the reasons they want to write a memoir. “I view it as a voyage to self-learning…and an opportunity to set the record straight,” says Barbara Kippen. “I told my husband, ‘If we don’t start defining ourselves, our children will do it for us,’” says Barbara Britain. “I spent 55 years in aviation,” says Charlie Abell. “I’ve seen a lot and done a lot and it all wants to come out of me.” “All of us, from my experience, have an incredible story to tell,” says Sara Mansfield Taber of Silver Spring, author of “Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy’s Daughter.” “Everyone, if they stick to it and work hard, can produce a wonderful lively account for family at the very
least and at the very most an extraordinary memoir that thousands of people will gobble up.” Many people, however, never get beyond thinking about writing a memoir. “Some are intimated by a feeling that they did not do anything stupendous that the world would recognize,” says Sandage. “But all of our lives combine to form the cultural fabric of this country and all of us have family traditions that need to be preserved.These traditions give us a sense of identity, tell us who we are and spell out the moral code that has bonded families for generations.” “People get bogged down worrying, ‘Am I just being an exhibitionist? Is this simply self-serving? Who will be interested?’ Don’t undermine yourself,” saysTaber. “One of the most generous things you can do in life is to share your story and experiences in an honest way.” Like an autobiography, a memoir requires retrospection. It is the memoir author’s introspection that differentiates his manuscript. “A memoir is more of a slice of life,” says Taber, who holds monthly memoir-writing workshops at her home and teaches at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda. “You take a theme and trace your life experience around that theme, such as friendship. You can track friendships, both wonderful and difficult, throughout