I don’t think I’ve really ever explained my major focus of this summer that just ended: the autobiography of my grandfather, Samuel Brooks, Sr. (1886-1962). Several months ago, I told my father that I would be willing to take the autobiography that his father typed in 1960 and retype it into the computer, adding photos, editing it, etc. Initially I thought I would be spending a few short hours simply typing, but as questions arose and my interest increased, my labor turned into complete absorption. All summer long I typed, read and reread, asked my dad questions for clarification, scanned photos, visited St. George for a photo-seeking tour, and scoured the Internet for additional info. After adding in Sam Sr.’s military journal, which included info about his courtship with my grandmother Winnifred Parry Brooks, dozens of pictures, and over 200 footnotes, what began as a 50-page autobiography turned into a 100-page document. My brother Pete sent it to a printing company where we had 25 copies bound in soft covers, and we gave copies to each of my siblings and their children. I was extremely pleased with our final product.
Yesterday (my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary) I presented a copy of the history to my father and mother. We read excerpts aloud, discovered facts about our family history many of us never knew, wept, and rejoiced.
I cannot help but wonder if I was perhaps some sort of small tool in the hands of Heavenly Father to help my grandfather’s story and life lessons to be told to his descendants. I look forward to meeting my grandfather someday, who died five years before I was born. But now I know him.
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