Gathering Personal Information

Photo courtesy of https://www.gsa.gov/

This is a companion to the previous blog, "The Do-it-Yourself Obituary." As mentioned in that post, this is an instrument for setting down a person's life information. I adapted it from the source cited below for use with my memoir writing classes, but have used it a number of times when helping friends write their or their loved ones' obituaries. Either way, whether writing your memoirs or family stories, or obituaries, my hope is that you'll find it useful.

Hugs,

~ xoA ~ 

Gathering Personal Information

Use these categories as a guide to gather information for writing your life stories or your life review. You can put the information on separate sheets of paper in a notebook or on 5x8 cards so you have space to add things as you think of them. I’ve also used this form when helping friends write obituaries.

Given name: first, middle, last; if you were named after someone, who? any story about how you got your name or who named you.

Birth: place, date, parents’ full names, including your mother’s maiden name; any unusual circumstances surrounding your birth, getting to the hospital; where delivered and by whom

Siblings: their names, birth dates, marriages, deaths, and names of children. Reminders of stories about your siblings (i.e. the time Susie kissed the hot pie; the time Jerry broke his arm)

Education: grade school, high school, college(s), other institutions or specialized training

Marriages, deaths, divorces: include dates, names, and places

Children: full names and nicknames, dates, where born, marriages and names of their spouses(s) and children. Reminders of stories about your children (i.e. Allie’s first bath; when we brought home the baby brother)

Work history and positions held: Make a timeline of all the places you worked

Military experience: what branch, rank, job, where served

Major geographic moves: List dates and places you lived over the years

Unusual experiences: your personal involvement in anything out of the ordinary, could be life-threatening or harrowing in some way (i.e. robbery victim, accident, caught in a hurricane) or could be something wonderful (i.e. winning a contest, appearing on a TV show)

Organizations you belonged to and positions held: clubs, service organizations, professional organizations

Religious affiliation, membership, activities, and organizations

Volunteer activities throughout life

Travel, special vacations

Awards, honors, professional accomplishments

Famous people in your life

Close friends: childhood, college/early work days, in organizations, later years

Life achievements: official and unofficial

Publications

Special skills, interests, hobbies

Foreign language skills

Main character traits: Take this one seriously, and do not be bashful. Think about the legacy you would like to leave behind. List your character traits and give examples

Life challenges: What did you have to overcome, and how did you do it? How you dealt with adversity can be a model for someone else.

Banners and bandwagons: What values did you hold high?

Political views

Add any other information you’d like to this list

            Favorite Sayings

Adapted from Katie Funk Wiebe in How to Write Your Personal or Family History, 2009.