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Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:41 pm

I was recently going through some old stuff I had from my old dad, when he died some years ago.
I came across an old reel to reel tape recorder and player. I remember using this as a teenager to record the top ten records from the radio. Amazed that it still worked when it was switched on, I wondered if the recordings were still on.... they were... and more

after listening to various recordings and music from a big reel, I fitted a smaller reel and played it.
the first sound I heard was me! very young, reciting a nursery rhyme at about 5 years old called 'baa baa black sheep'.

Then after some confusing sounds and voices, a womans voice, not recognisable at first, but as soon as my name was spoken and the message began I knew it was my mother who died in 1967 from breast cancer, when I was 9.

My father must have recorded it when they knew she was going to die.

She is telling me to be a good boy... and that about is all I have been able to listen to..so far, without collapsing into tears.
The thing is I have no memory of her voice... and to hear her speak is very emotive
My moms sister is still alive and now I know she sounds just like her.. I am hoping to play it to her soon.
I'm 51 years old now... I thought I would be over this...

Phew!
I am a pragmatical sort of guy but this is kinda spooky as she is talking to me on the tape.
So I am considering sitting in a room with this reel to reel recorder with a bottle of something, and hear it out.

thinking about it ... it's truly an awesome find.
Anyone else here discovered a similar thing?

thanks for reading it any how :D

Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:46 pm

Wow....

Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:47 pm

Wow, that must have been overwhelming.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 6:04 pm

Overwhelming... yes indeed.

I rather think my Father intended it to be listened to when I was 9. but there was probably not a good time.
He never let me attend her funeral. I don't hate him for that, perhaps that's the way things were done then.
time has healed up the wound.

she must have been a brave woman to do this... so I owe it an audience at least. All be it 42 years late.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 6:15 pm

kevtherev wrote: Overwhelming... yes indeed.

I rather think my Father intended it to be listened to when I was 9. but there was probably not a good time.
He never let me attend her funeral. I don't hate him for that, perhaps that's the way things were done then.
time has healed up the wound.

she must have been a brave woman to do this... so I owe it an audience at least. All be it 42 years late.

I would have that recording transferred to digital as soon as possible so it'll last longer than the tape that it's on...

Fri Nov 07, 2008 6:59 pm

Very powerful story, thank you for sharing.

Definitely transfer that as soon as you can

Alex

Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:46 pm

Kinda strange but I came accross sort of the same thing last month but in the form of a book. My father died 30 years ago this month. I had heard he wrote a book in the 60's but never could find it. Last month on another site relating to him and others I came accross a site called world cat. I typed his name in and up popped his name and a book called A new method for determining the accuracy of the geotactic orientation of the snail helix aspersa muller. I looked at the title and thought wtf ? There was one copy in storage at san francisco state. I called the head lady and asked if I could get a copy she said she would try. this week I get a package from sfsu. with a copy of the 53 page book. its a book about the common brown garden snail and what direction it would go in if you put it on an incline by its self and with weight added to it. guess it goes up in the dark always away from gravity. does something different in the light. I wondered why in the world would anyone really wanna know this ?wont be on the best seller list anyways. I thought about it and figured he was kinda of a brainy guy but with animals not machines at all. I pretty much prefer machines to anything else. about the same time I remembered I dont know what his voice sounds like anymore. I was the last to talk to him in the 70's but couldnt find him again after that. There are some tapes im listening too of this group and some new video comming up this month on cnn and msnbc maybe I will see or hear him again. Taken 30 years to not be pissed off about the whole thing and really wanna find out what he was doing. I read the book with a shot glass and makers mark im not finished with it yet. Him and his group died nov. 18th 1978 in south america. a huge waste of human life. anyways good luck with your tapes and keep them safe. and im dam happy I prefer machines...

Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:50 pm

kevtherev wrote:
Anyone else here discovered a similar thing?

First off, thanks for sharing. I did come across a cassette tape of my grandfather telling stories. It was good.... but not enough. My grandmother was still alive at the time and I used the tape as motivation to do something I had kicked around for a while. I became the historian for the family.

A little background info- my parents had a lot of issues. I spent a lot of my life at my grandparents or as I got older, at friends. I still spent every summer with my grandparents. They provided me with the model I use for an adult relationship with my wife... 16 years now a success. Needless to say, we were close. They lived in SoCal, where I was born. I also mentioned in another post that my grandfather got me into old cars.

So what I did was, I finished the family tree using all members of the family I knew and could get up with. I video taped my grandma talking about back in the day stories and taped her making her famous italian meals. (I set the camera up on a tripod off to the side but focused on her so as to not be too intrusive). I had her and other family members let me color copy their old photo album pics and label them on the reverse side. Anyway, other things like this and then I keep them stored safely all together. She has passed now and her history is recorded.

For my own sons, we have the usual photos, and video, etc. but I also did more for them. I suppose I have given them what I would want if I was a child that lost a parent... like the original poster. What I did was create a file for them containing a list of my favorite books, LPs, DVDs, quotations, copies of letters I wrote about fatherhood to an old friend (challenges, rewards, fears, loves, etc), journalings about personal topics, some sample writings from grad school, letters to each to be opened later in life, a list of personal items I would like kept for them (gpa's old tools, my glasses, my old wallet, my watch, etc)...

Long post yes and perhaps I am a bit of an overachiever but this is a community-type posting and perhaps someone else may do something similar for the others in their life.

That tape you found is special. Enjoy it. You may be able to create a nice memory for someone too.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:51 pm

That's quite a gift. Cherish it.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:14 pm

Incredible. Thanks for telling us about it.

I have a big box full of cassettes recorded by my brother, who died 15 years ago, and I've never been able to bring myself to listen to them. Maybe it's time I did.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:50 pm

When our first daughter was born, my wife and I asked our respective parents to jot down a little information on their parents, etc to put in our daughter's baby book. Her parents did exactly that, a one page narrative of "my parents were so-and-so and came from wherever".

My daughter is 25 now, and my dad passed away when she was 21. While very ill prior to his death, he remained, lucid, happy, and pain free right up until the day prior to his passing. It was up until that very day that he had worked on the "Family History". He did this for the entire 21 years of her life, ending up with nearly 400 single spaced typewritten pages of her paternal "roots". As he wrote it, he would sit a page aside for a day or so, and go back to it. He said that each time he read a page, it would evoke additional memories so he would jot those in the margin and re-type it. He'd set that aside for a day or so, go back and read it, and the same thing would happen. The whole thing actually evolved from the first page with notes in the margins.

It's kind of cool reading about clowns and princes from which I came. Drunks, murderers, doctors, lawyers, blue collar, white collar, and all points in between mixed together to make my family. Kind of surreal to read it and try to relate it to who I am today. It sure makes looking back at the family photo albums a little more interesting, that's for certain.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:25 pm

Incredible...

Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:00 am

wow man... thats incredible.

Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:20 am

thanks for the warm replies, it's nice to know others found similar experiences.
I've set a day aside to hear it out, just need a bottle of 12yr old malt :D

On the subject of taking it off the tape.
What would be the easiest/best way to transfer to digital?

Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:17 am

kevtherev wrote: thanks for the warm replies, it's nice to know others found similar experiences.
I've set a day aside to hear it out, just need a bottle of 12yr old malt :D

On the subject of taking it off the tape.
What would be the easiest/best way to transfer to digital?

What an incredible find. Thank you for sharing. And the responses so far have inspired me to get something together for my children.

Now I have some other thoughts. Forgo the alcohol until you've heard EVERY word your mother wanted to impart to you. And on the last question, we have an electronics store in town that specializes in converting old tapes and VHS to digital media. Check some of your local stores. Peace!

Sat Nov 08, 2008 9:09 am

When my father was dying from brain cancer my mother video taped everything. He died 5 years ago. I lived in the same house then and I remember my mother playing the videos all the time after he died...I didn't watch them but I could hear them, it was hard to hear his voice. 6 months after my father died my mother killed herself. I moved out of the house because I couldn't take it there, they both died in that house. My sister still lives there. About a year ago we were going through some stuff and we came across a card my father gave my mother for valentines day right before he died. It was one of those cards you can record your voice on. When I opened it the message played. I could hear him telling my mother he loved her and the battery slowly died at the end of the message and it hasn't played since. I thought that was odd. LIke it played one more time for us. I'm going to have to take it apart and put a new battery in it..hopefully it doesn't erase. It was sad to hear my fathers voice because you could tell he was very sick.

We also found my parents answering machine and plugged it in and played that. It had the phone message from my mother....very weird feeling hearing that.

I haven't gotten the nerve to watch the videos my mother made of my dad because I don't want to see him sick again..I don't think I could handle that.

Sat Nov 08, 2008 9:17 am

thats tough stuff there guys. I don't know that i could deal with hearing stuff like that. I still have bad memories of getting the call from the hospital about my Dad being close to death and once getting there they were using the paddles on him but it was too late. Thankfully i have too many good memories of him that help wipe out that bad one and good family and friends around me to help keep me positive. I wish you both the best.

Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:28 am

wow what a treasure that must be. i recently had a somewhat similar experience. my dad died three years ago and my sister found a cassette letter from him to her in 1976. she had it put on a cd and sent me a copy. on it he was describing our trip to northern ireland that year. i was 11 at the time and still fondly remember the trip to his boyhood homes in antrim and belfast. it's great to hear his voice and listening to it is like having a conversation with him again. something that i truly miss.
enjoy your conversation with mum...

Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:19 pm

Thank you all for sharing. Although it must be tough to re-live some of those memories, i hope you all find some sense of peace knowing they are no longer suffering and in a much better place. I hope to record some type of media or writings for my kids to look back and get a "snapshot" of what i was like before i get too ill or pass away. We are fortunate that we have better recording devices that will preserve our memories for the next generations to cherish. I had a good friend of mine pass recently that i had not spoken to in 15 + years. His relatives let me see some video and pictures of what i missed. I promised myself to appreciate all my friends and family more. Once again, thank you for sharing.

Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:18 pm

I was born in 1973, my father died in late 1976. I have had no recollection of him alive since I was so young when he passed.

One day while watching a special on The Military Channel about the Cuban Missile Crisis,they played some old archive footage from that era, and low and behold was my Dad sitting at his desk interpreting satelite images. (that was his job in the military)

Now thanks to the DVR, I have that memory forever.

R.I.P
sSGT W.E. Cherry Jr.
USAF
1944-1975

Thanks for listening