Finally Done!! Family Memory Box

[monik7]

With so much spare time available due to COVID, I decided to complete a project that’s taken way too long to finish. It’s a memory box containing many different items going back as far as one of my maternal fourth great-grandmothers. The project began quite a few years ago when I was still married. I designed the box and then asked my husband to build it for me. Unfortunately he never completed it before we divorced, having only gotten as far as assembling less than half of the sections. Thankfully he had cut all the wood for each section because when he left he took all his tools with him. I put the project aside for many years and only recently decided during COVID that I needed to complete it. I wanted something to pass on to my daughter and grandchildren and have provided them with information about all the items in each of the sections so they know the importance of each to our family. I painted it a few days ago. In the photos it doesn’t look like it but it’s white and the wall behind is pale beige. It measures 32” x 25 1/2” and has a glass face that can be moved sideways or removed.


I’ll describe a few items in each section.


The white hand towel was handwoven by my 4th great-grandmother when she was a girl - approx. 1750. The black hanging ribbon has pins and awards won in school by my mother. The red ribbon has pins and awards I won in school. There is also a diary my dad kept when he joined the Navy Air Force. On the upper right is my mom’s school letter from Storm Lake High School, Storm Lake, Iowa.


The doll dishes at the top belonged to my maternal great-grandmother when she was a child. The pink bootie was mine. The other was dropped somewhere on Mt. Hamilton near San Jose, CA at about 4,000’. Behind the silver cup on the right at the back is a photo of my brother leading me off to my first day of kindergarten.


The wooden toy blocks were my maternal grandfather’s as a child and behind them is his high school graduation announcement. He was valedictorian in his class of 4 girls and himself. On the top of the left side is a photo of my maternal great-grandfather who was a 49er during the Calif. Gold Rush. He sailed by ship from Boston around South America to San Francisco and after 3 years and not striking it rich, he sailed to Panama, walked across the Isthmus, and caught a steamship to New York. He eventually settled in Illinois and was a farmer.


The upper picture is of my brother and me. Below is my ID when I was a flight attendant for United.


The white napkin is from my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.
The lower right section has many mementos and awards from my father’s 33+ years as an aeronautical engineer with NASA and its precursor NACA.


All closed up and some larger photos on top. Those are my parents on the right.

One funny thing is it’s VERY heavy and I was trying to figure out how I would bolt it to the wall by myself. I’m a lover of Egyptian history and tried to figure out how the Egyptians would do it. I ended up putting a bar stool against the wall with two pillows on top and then put the box on top of the pillows. With that I had it at the right height and bolted it to the wall. Hopefully the Egyptians would be proud.

Sandi

[Bethers]

Sandi, that is awesome. I hope that your daughter and grandchildren realize what a special keepsake it is when they receive it. You did a remarkable job. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Liz]

I don’t know about the Egyptians, but I’m proud of the whole project. What a treasure of special memories! A lot of thought and care went into it. Good workmanship.

[Redetotry]

What a clever idea it is beautiful. It is wonderful that you have so many mementos from so long ago. Loved your idea of getting it bolted to the wall.

[chalet05]

I love it, Sandi! What great items of history.

[snowball]

What a treasure... and to have those memento's for so many people... you did good
it indeed is lovely
sheila

[MandysMom]

You are lucky to have keepsakes from so far back. I know nothng except what I find on Ancestry about anyne past my great grandparents and little about them. What a gift to your family.
Velda

[Irmi]

Wow, Sandi! You did an amazing job!

[Cudedog]

Sandi, this is really an exquisite effort on your part. Thank you so much for sharing, it really brightened up my day.

I didn't know you were interested in Egypt!

I am sure that you have visited the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, not too terribly far from you. It is a wonderful place. I have visited there two or three times over the years (not nearly enough), and it is one of my goals to visit there again once the pandemic is over.

https://egyptianmuseum.org/

Thank you.

Anne

[JudyJB]

What I really like was that there is a sliding glass panel to keep the dust and dirt off, yet is removable. That is very clever. Now you need to write about each item in the box, as your grandkids and their kids will not remember all the stories.

[monik7]

What I really like was that there is a sliding glass panel to keep the dust and dirt off, yet is removable. That is very clever. Now you need to write about each item in the box, as your grandkids and their kids will not remember all the stories.

I have provided them with a diagram numbering each section and a list explaining each item in each section and its significance to our family.
Sandi

[monik7]

Thank you everyone for your kind responses. I sure feels good to have this project completed after so long. I just hope my daughter will get it hung somewhere in their house once I pass it on. They live in an old house that has solid walls rather than Sheetrock. I don’t know if they’re plaster, but I don’t think you can just hammer or drill into them. I’d rather not have her just put it in a closet instead of figuring it out. I don’t know where to find out how one would go about hanging it. It’s quite heavy so needs some strong, heavy-duty screws.

If anyone has prior experience or ideas on how to hang this on their old and solid wall, I’d love to hear them. When this is finally put in a place of honor on one of my daughter’s walls, I will feel that the project is finally complete.
Sandi

[Colliemom]

Fantastic job. That’s a wonderful way to pass on your family memories. So many families don’t have a lot of these things like you have saved anymore or Thry were never passed down from one generation to the next. Thanks for sharing.