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Life Story Writing Course Helps Recount Memories

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: September 19, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - When Charlene Johnston sat down to write her life story, there was one anecdote she knew she had to include.

Growing up in the Bronx, N.Y., Johnston, her sister and two cousins would ask 'Papa' for money for movies each Saturday. If Papa didn't have the fare, 'he would present his own show for us' by disappearing into the bedroom and returning 'in full regalia as the most interesting characters,' Johnston wrote.

Johnston wrote how Papa would pull off one of those characters:

'Papa would hold two mop or broom sticks. He put his hat on and a bandage around his forehead. Then, he somehow draped a white sheet over the sticks.

'Holding the sticks at shoulders, he looked just like a man on a stretcher covered to the neck with a sheet. The four of us always broke into gales of laughter at these antics and completely forgot about that Abbot and Costello movie we wanted to see.'

The story is just one of dozens in a thick tome that includes Johnston's fondest memories from her 74 years.

The book is the product of a course she took last year called Life Story Writing I, offered through the University of South Florida's Learning in Retirement program.

Another session of the eight-week course begins Monday in Brooksville.

The course offers the basics in capturing memories on paper, with structured assignments each week that focus on topics such as childhood, family history, relationships, children, career and volunteer work, along with personal sorrows and victories.

Participants hear samples of published work, then write their own pieces that are read aloud to the class, said Barbara Sherwood, a freelance writer who has taught the course for four years.

Some students have their work neatly bound at an office supply store, often including photos, and print multiple copies to give to family members and other loved ones.

There is no age requirement for the course, but enrollees typically are of retiree age, Sherwood said.

'People enjoy writing their own stories and sharing, and they get just as much from other people's stories,' she said.

Johnston said she took the course after suddenly realizing she was the only 'functioning senior member of the family.'

'I thought I'd better start writing these things down because there will be no one left to ask' about family history, Johnston said, adding that her son and daughter always tell their mother when she starts to tell a story they have already heard, but usually cannot recount them when asked.

A native of Harlem, Johnston worked as a dental hygienist by day at Jewish Memorial Hospital, then at night offered traditional Caribbean entertainment with the Carib Singers and Dancers at the Open Door nightclub near New York University.

'I'd go to work in the morning with white nursing shoes and a cap on my head, then put on fishnet hose and high-heeled shoes and go to Greenwich Village,' Johnston recalled, laughing.

'I've had a wonderful life and obviously a long life, and it was so nice to relive those things.'

Although some would-be writers have the desire, many are self-conscious about their writing ability, Sherwood said.

'It doesn't matter,' she said. 'It's what you want to say. It's your voice.'

There is little editing in the course; Sherwood will offer suggestions on punctuation 'for clarity' but not much more.

Students are encouraged to cull information from primary sources.

Johnston, for example, used a family Bible in which her grandmother had made notes of important birth and marriage dates.

Diaries or journals kept over the years are, of course, a big help.

Terry Brady, who took the course last fall, used poetry and short stories he had written.

The 65-year-old Realtor, who splits his time between Lutz and Homosassa, said he always had two longtime goals: to write a book and build a gazebo.

'I sort of take the attitude that they're not going to ask me when I get to heaven, 'Did you get the gazebo done?'' Brady said.

The result, 'Brady's Life Stories' turned out to be a fitting gift for his parents' 66th wedding anniversary, he said. The three-ring binder is all handwritten accounts peppered with photos.

'They were surprised by how much I remember,' he said.

Brady recalled when a train derailed near his house in rural southern Indiana. The Korean War was in full swing, and the train carried ordnance that went off when the train caught fire.

Brady's family drove their 1952 Ford to within a mile of the wreck.

'It looked a lot like fireworks, but you had a lot of tracers going over the car,' Brady said. 'I remember lying down in the back seat thinking, this might be it.'

Students are encouraged to be creative in how they relate their stories, Sherwood said.

Entries do not have to be straight-up narrative accounts.

Take Brady's description of Snake Road, also in Indiana, the mere mention of which caused Brady's two young daughters to shudder.

'Tension hangs in the air like the haze that limits your view of the road ahead,' he wrote.

'The mystery of this road is what goes on in the shadows you can't see behind. Snake Road may be the most treacherous path you will ever have to face, or it may simply be just like tomorrow - an unknown until you get there.'

Both Johnston and Brady went on to take the second installment of the course, which is less structured so students can write on just about any topic, Sherwood said.

Students often find the class to be cathartic.

'A lot of trauma in my life was maybe brought to a closure because of the book,' Brady said, recounting a devastating tornado in Indiana that killed his next-door neighbor.

Brady, by the way, not only built his gazebo on the bank of the Homosassa River, he included the plans in his book - and a photo of himself standing in the gazebo with a drink held high to toast his success.

He advised those who are considering the course to keep in mind what motivated him.

'Some things you put off and then you can't do them anymore,' he said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Life Story Writing I, a course offered through University of South Florida's Learning in Retirement program
WHEN: From 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays from Sept. 24 through Nov. 19

WHERE: Southwest Florida Water Management District, 2370 S. Broad St., Brooksville

COST: $50 for Hernando County residents; registration required

CONTACT: For information, call Barbara Sherwood at (352) 597-1830; to register, call USF at 1-866-541-7124.

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