Foreword

10 June 1999

To whomever may be reading this:

Dear Reader,

This week I’m going to visit Grandpa, and I wanted to print out for him a draft transcript from the tapes he made of his life story. The tapes were made, I believe, in 1996. This version represents the data in ‘raw’ fashion, without editing.

Listening to the tapes has been a joy and a thrill; already I find myself using the stories from them as I teach my children about persistence, patience, faith, and integrity. There are also some real surprises, like "how to ditch a wanna-be 12-year-old girlfriend", "what to do for a bloated cow", or "don’t slide off the chicken coop with your pockets full of eggs". You may have known, for example, but I didn’t, about Grandpa and the still (yes, a distillery)! I like to think that as I listen to these stories, I come to know his life and times and love him better.

I am hoping yet that more detail about these stories can be obtained. I am in the process of collecting and scanning pictures to add to the story. I hope to eventually put together a book, of sorts, in which other sources of information are combined with the data from these tapes, to chronicle Grandpa’s life history, in hopes that later generations will be able to know and remember Grandpa, too. However, please be patient with me, I have 4 small children; I’ll be working on this project as often as I can.

If you have information, especially pictures, please share them with me. The very best way to do so would be to send documents and scanned pictures directly to me via e-mail: liz@csd.net. I can receive attachments. I am using Microsoft Word, Adobe Printshop, and Microsoft PhotoEditor, and Ancestral Quest (in place of PAF). If you do not have access to the Internet, and you have pictures, but you do not wish to part with them, please be so kind as to color photocopy them (yes, even the black and white ones), and mail me the copy. Color photocopying gives near photographic quality results, ideal for scanning into my computer.

Special thanks to my Husband, Steve, for the equipment(!), to my kids for the paper route that made me get up early in the morning, giving me time to type, to Grandma Lucille for her encouragement, and to Grandpa, who made it all possible.

Sincerely,

Liz Osborn

1545 Pratt St.

Longmont CO 80501