GrEAT IDeAs!
A Gift For Aunt Beck
I Julie Walt
Special to The AppleTree
am excited about the approaching
millennium. Already I am thinking
of who I will be with and
where I will be on New
Year's Eve 1999. Of course, I
want to be with close family
I and friends and, in my wildest
fantasies, we are in sight of
the pyramids at Giza or the
I Eiffel Tower, clinking our cham-
pagne flutes.
Obviously, I have a penchant
for the dramatic and some kind
1 of need to look at life in a
broad context. I was born in
1959, so the eve of the new
century sort of marks my life's
halfway point. I want to be able
to tell stories about it when I'm
80. And I want the memories,
I my very own mental movies, in
I living color and surround sound.
This historical outlook on life proba-
bly began in 1995 when my Aunt
Beck turned 90. For a great-aunt, she
was pretty hip and very much in the
here and now. She took interest in all
my pursuits and could talk on just
1 about any subject. Aunt Beck loved to
reminisce, too. My sister Adrienne
and I provided an insatiable audi-
ence for her story telling. We wanted
to be shown all the family skeletons
and she delivered, interspersing anec-
dotes with large doses of humor.
In 1995, Aunt Beck lived in Florida.
When Adrienne and I arrived for a
week-long visit at her home that
Julie Walt creates specialized gift
photograph albums through her
company, Winged Victory Albums.
She also is a consultant for Creative
Memories, which promotes photo-
: graph preservation and archiving
through home classes and work-
shops.
5/29
1998
74
one's signature for the birthday greet-
photos dating as far back as 1910,
ing on the frontispiece, we asked the
acquired from seven family members
calligrapher
to inscribe all our first
in three cities. Compiling it was like
names. We also created a pocket in
working as the curator of a special
the back of the album where we
exhibit.
added birthday cards and notes.
When we started the process
we established criteria for choos- 1 When we shipped it a few days
before Aunt Beck's birthday, the pock-
ing photographs. We wanted
et was jammed with salutations.
even representation of the
I spoke with Aunt Beck the day after
extended family, meaning we
she
received the album. She said she
avoided emphasizing any one I
cried when she saw it. For two years
branch. The photos' composi-
she showed it to everyone who
tion had to be decent; we did-
walked in the door.
n't accept just any old snap-
When Aunt Beck died at 92 last
shot. We were careful to
I year, the album was passed down to
choose the most attractive
her sister, my Aunt Esther, who tea-
images — especially of Aunt
! sures it as much as Aunt Beck did. It
Beck.
is the only collection of photos repre-
For the most part, the pic-
senting the entire extended family.
tures were from weddings,
In the course of this project, I found
b'nai mitzvah celebrations
a lot of photographic treasures I didn't
and graduations, as well as
know existed. I ended up making
of relatives picking peaches in
I copies for myself and framing them. I
Aunt Beck's orchard or vacationing
also reestablished bonds with
together. These provided some of the
She told us how she changed her
cousins, aunts and uncles. But what
best photos of our great-aunts and
I name from Rebecca Goldenberg to
was
most amazing was the incredible
uncles, my aunt's siblings, when they
I Betty Holden, to get a job in Detroit
sense of continuity I felt, one genera-
were young and robust.
during the 1930s; and how she and
tion to the next. Moreover, I now
Understandably, the contributors of
her husband lived on Orchard Lake
have a visual reference of my family
these photos had no intention of giv-
1 Road near Maple. They had a peach
from
almost a century ago. My out-
ing up their originals — nor did we
I orchard and harvested fruit every
look has changed. Maybe I've
year when the area was nothing but I ask them to. So what was the best
grown
more sentimental. All I know is
means of reproducing? Thank good-
I farmland.
that creating this gift was a truly
ness for color copies. Had we made
Because of all Aunt Beck had
enlightening experience.
negatives and new prints for every
shared with us, Adrienne and I want-
photo we had to return the project
ed to do something special for her
Do you have a great idea for
would have been cost prohibitive.
I 90th birthday. With the family as
families? If so, we would love to
There were, however, some pictures
spread out as it is (Detroit, Ann Arbor,
consider it for publication in
that needed restoring. In those cases,
California, New York and Israel), a
AppleTree. Please send to: Great
we had a photographer make a
party was unrealistic. Besides, Aunt
Ideas, c/o AppleTree, 27676
copy negative, enlarge or reduce,
1 Beck's brothers and sisters were at the
Franklin Road, Southfield, Ml
I crop and touch it up to enhance the
ages when travel is next to impossi-
48034.
Write a brief descrip-
ble. Our goal was to find an alterna- I image. It was expensive, but worth it
tion of your idea, and include
I . to have the photos brought back to
tive method to recognize Aunt Beck
your
name and a daytime phone
life.
I and show our love, and we wanted
number. if you would like your
To personalize the album, we had
1 to include all family members.
material returned, please include
a calligrapher inscribe my aunt's
The result was a photo album
a self-addressed, stamped enve-
favorite- poem on the front silk lining.
1 but not just any photo album. This
lope.
Since it was impossible to get every-
I one included 157 reproductions of
spring, she eagerly showed us the
roses in her garden and the ducklings
on the pond outside her bedroom
window.