SENIOR
SPOTLIGHT - August 2001
My name is Ralph Carter, retired from Texas Tech University in 1993, and I have lived in Lubbock since 1971. Like many other Seniors, closing the "office door" doesn't mean closing the door on one's life. Travel is an important hobby, and from that one gets interested in genealogy-- how, from where, and why did all my ancestors come to this country? I guess you could count me as "one-quarter southern, one quarter northern, one quarter English (where my paternal grandfather was born in 1848), and the rest like everyone else who came here, a little bit of this and that.
A search for ancestors leads to a lot of travels around the country, as well as overseas, and the opportunity to meet many interesting people. Now, how does one record all this information? That's where the computer comes in, -- programs such as "Family Tree Maker," which I use, is a good way to get started compiling the data & family stories, as well as sharing it with other relatives. I am told that the computer "helps to keep one's mind active,"-- and I'm sure there is something to it. I couldn't do without mine. With e-mail, one can keep abreast of family happenings around the globe, and much more efficiently and cheaply than the telephone and surface mail, -- even family photos get exchanged back and forth, so that you don't miss a thing with nieces, nephews, grandkids, -- whatever. And don't forget, you can create your own Web Page site where friends and relatives can catch up on your "latest exploits."
The next logical step was to join the South Plains Genealogical Society, where people who have a similar love for family history, can share their "telling, retelling, and embellishing family stories," on and on-- but with never a boring moment. To be enjoyed, these stories must be told. As an RSVP member, I volunteer one afternoon a week at the Mahon Library in the genealogy section. What a treasure trove of books & documents where you get to meet and share stories with many wonderful & interesting people! One of our current projects, led by Linda Nix and George Ann Hobbs, & others, is the "reading of the stones" at the Lubbock City Cemetery. Over 70,000 persons are buried there, --all with a particular story to be told and data to be read. All were citizens of Lubbock from its very beginning and from all walks of life, -- judges, teachers, businessmen, handymen, housewives, paupers, -- young and old. The inscriptions on the stones are "timeless memories" to be shared with future generations. To visit the City Cemetery, is like leafing through a gigantic history book.
This is what keeps me going-- volunteer work, genealogy, and computer-'ology.'
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