My Grandma Dolly was and still is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She was my biggest cheerleader in life. One day almost 20 years ago I had the idea to sit her down and film her telling her story. She was 98 1/2 years old and had some great stories! I had a trip planned to California and decided at the last minute to grab my video camera and film her while I was there. Of course I got distracted with friends and other work and procrastinated sitting down with her until almost the last day of my trip. I finally sat her down and interviewed her for a few hours. She told me all about about her life, her college sorority days, how her and my Grandpa met, how he proposed to her, how they started their family business, and other funny and heartwarming stories – many of which I had never heard before!
“I was both heartbroken and immensely grateful that I had taken the time to listen to her tell her story and get it all on film before she passed.”
I finished filming her around 4 pm and around midnight I got a call from my brother telling me she had passed away. I was both heartbroken and immensely grateful that I had taken the time to listen to her tell her stories and get it all on film before she passed. The next day as I started editing the video to show at her funeral the song, “One More Day” by Diamond Rio came on the radio. I knew at that point that she had waited for me to capture her life stories, beliefs and love she had for her family before leaving. I knew it was a message from her. Because of this video, my entire family and I always have “One More Day” with our beloved Grandma Dolly.
There is power in knowing your story, and owning it in every way, because your story is yours alone, it’s one of a kind.
Joanna Gains
“The Stories We Tell”
After watching how much my family has treasured Grandma Dolly’s life story on video I have become passionate about helping as many families and business owners tell their stories as possible! In all I have over 30 years of interview and video production experience including commercials and infomercials. One of the highlights of my career was being a part of the production team that produced the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
My interviewing skills developed over many years from interviewing people such as:
Over the years I’ve learned that stories truly do connect us. Without the story, there’s no history, no better way to deeply know one another. There’s no better way to leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
Recording your life story on video is powerful. What everyone begins to see is that the hard lessons learned, just as much as the good and the happy stories, all gets folded together into our story that makes us uniquely who we are.
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