Becky Yeater is a writer and editor with nearly fifteen years of experience in different aspects of publishing. She grew up with a genealogist father who taught her early about the value of learning not just the names of her ancestors, but also the stories and pictures that reflected their personalities. (Knowing that he had been a sweet man did not, however, prevent her from finding the picture of one particular ancestor that hung on the wall outside her bedroom to be particularly terrifying. His skin was tinted green. And to this day she will tell you that he looks creepy. Kind, but creepy.)
Since she was young, she has been fascinated by history in general and the stories of the people who make it up in particular. In his pursuit of genealogy, her father would take the family to visit a wide variety of relatives—some quite distantly related—who he hoped would have information or pictures to share with him. One couple they visited in the 1980’s had a house that appeared to be straight out of the 1930’s, though not because it suffered from any neglect. It was perfectly clean and well-kept, with the kitchen table set for the next meal with beautiful Depression glass. In the parlor were a horsehair sofa and a coffee table with a plush album of family photos. Outside the kitchen door was the pump they used to get their water, and behind the house was an outhouse that was still in use. Becky’s grandmother assured them later that the couple lived like this by choice. They were successful business people and had plenty of money, but they were content with the way they had lived when they were younger and saw no reason to change. Fortunately for Becky’s father, they also valued the history of their family and the photos they had inherited. They were able to identify the people in that plush album and allowed him to take pictures of the pictures for his records.
Later in life, Becky began to understand what a gift her father had given his daughters by sharing his love and exploration of their roots with them. It was a two-fold blessing: first, they met distant and aged family members whom they might otherwise have never known existed, and second, he gave them information on their ancestors that allowed them to understand where they came from as a family. Their ancestors weren’t wealthy or famous people, but many of them showed courage and perseverance in carving out a life for themselves and those they loved. Some of them were not so courageous and made very poor life choices. But they all contributed to who the people in this generation have come to be. Their children raised children, who in turn raised their own children, each generation learning lessons that have been passed down, perhaps unconsciously, from earlier generations.
Now, Becky is doing what she can to get the surviving stories written down so that her own great-grandchildren know where they came from. And she loves this work so much that she now does the same for other families, pulling stories together and illuminating people’s characters so that future generations of their families understand their own history.