The Story of the Legacy Model
The story begins on December 20, 1996, when I attended a holiday party in New Hampshire. The usual friends were there, including Mickey, a high spirited, talkative man, who had just become a father. He was taking fatherhood rather seriously, as such, decided to construct his family history. Mickey wanted to give the gift of his legacy to his firstborn child. Legacy for him involved genealogy research that he was conducting in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, as this material was not yet widely available on the internet. I was so engrossed with listening to him about his research efforts, I hardly spoke to my other friends. Mickey invited me to meet him at the National Archives in Waltham, MA so he could walk me through the research process. At first, I was hesitant, as my father was an orphan and my mother had died when I was young, leaving me very little family history to begin genealogy research. I did share with Mickey that I had been very fond of my maternal grandmother and her family history was a mystery as no living relative knew her story. I did finally agree to meet him. This began my journey into my family legacy.
Once my journey began in earnest, numerous challenges surfaced with my research effort, including my new position teaching full-time in counselor education at a university. Academic life left little time for personal pursuits. A few key highlights along my path over these years included connecting with a cousin once removed, being reunited with my mother’s living siblings, meeting a cousin, receiving family photos from relatives, becoming a Daughter of the American Revolution on October 9, 2004, and having serendipitous experiences associated with my legacy journey. Visits to family cemetery plots have been an exciting and rewarding venture since 1996, where I have uncovered a wealth of information as well as having several uncanny coincidences. More recently I have met one of my father’s orphan brothers. I visited the farm that my father grew-up on as a child and learned that I am a descendant of the Huguenots of New Paltz, NY. And finally, in December 2014, a cousin found my maternal grandmother’s birth certificate online, as it had been just scanned and made available in the New Hampshire vital records. Finally, the mystery begins to unfold. Interestingly, my maternal grandmother’s family information was the initial motivation for commencing the search for my family history and legacy. In May 2012 several of my scholarly projects came to completion. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and an overwhelming sense of freedom. It was at this time that I decided to develop a legacy model. Developing a group curriculum had been in the back of my mind for many years culminating in an article I wrote in 2006 where I was awarded the Women’s Issues Writing Contest, Health Category, from the Massachusetts DAR. It was not until 2012 that I mentioned the group idea and project to my academic dean, as I wanted to apply for grant money to support this research and community service effort. Having received a green light, the project was officially launched in April 2013 with a Special Projects Grant from the Daughters of the American Revolution with matching funds from Bridgewater State University. In addition, the College of Graduate Studies provided a graduate assistant to work on the Legacy Project. I contacted BSU alumni who had stood apart as graduate students and were practicing mental health practitioners to form a team for the project. Kristen Anderson and Melissa Shea “jumped” on board. Kristen Anderson had clinical experience including group work. She took time off to complete a doctoral degree in gerontology and then came back with enhanced wisdom to work on the book. Melissa Shea served as group facilitator, mentor, and creative genius. She brought experience working with older adults. Unfortunately, she was not able to work on the book manuscript due to care-taking responsibilities. Maureen Boiros was completing her last year of her graduate program and served as the graduate research assistant the first year of the project. She is a retired registered nurse and decided to get formally trained as a mental health counselor to work with veterans. Once she graduated with her master’s degree she seamlessly transitioned to colleague. The rest is history. |