My Personal Home Page
Overview
Hello welcome to my passion.
My favorite saying is: "It is amazing how much of who we are is based on who we were. I help people remember who they were".
To my family, we are one. We are a family connected by a name as inspirational as SMART. What a blessing. It is SMART that connect the branches that give us life.
My Story (as printed in "At Sula's Feet") www.sulatoo.com :
In
2001 I left a college reunion driven to use wonderful new technology,
get organized, and prepare for capturing more memories. All forms of
collecting family history appeal to me, including oral history. It is
comforting to know that writing stories and life lyrics, building
family trees, and organizing photos mean I will never be bored.
My favorite saying is: "It is amazing how much of who we are is based on who we were. I help people remember who they were".
To my family, we are one. We are a family connected by a name as inspirational as SMART. What a blessing. It is SMART that connect the branches that give us life.
My Story (as printed in "At Sula's Feet") www.sulatoo.com :
A
very
shy college student came home for the summer, sat down at her
grandmother's feet and said "tell me the stories you used to tell me".
Since her grandmother adored her, she granted her wish. She spent the
afternoon singing, laughing, and sharing with her grand daughter the
moments that would create an abundance of goodwill throughout the years
to come. The moments that would be needed to prove to her great grand
children how wonderful a person she was. They recorded the voice that
would delight her aging daughter some 30 years later. She shared
information that revealed the source of personality traits that were
repeated through generations. They recorded a moment in time to be
shared with her family who would later miss her.
That student was me. Ersula Knox Odom.
The
tape recorder was huge and malfunctioned. I was distressed at having my
tight, reserved voice recorded along with the clear strong voice of my
hero. But something within me refused to stop. I knew then that these
stories would be a part of me forever. I had no idea HOW MUCH.
I
was raised by a grandmother who was the youngest and last surviving
sister of seven brothers and sisters. I was perfectly placed to enjoy
family history. Everyone came to visit his or her good-natured auntie,
affectionately known as "Sula." These visits afforded me opportunities
to enjoy those endearing walks down memory lane; each relative having a
slightly different and fascinating twist to the same stories. These
experiences and my enthusiasm for collecting such information, later
earned me the title of SMART/PELOTE Family Historian.
In
fact it appears my past actions were setting the stage and lying
dormant until I matured enough to truly be excited about revealing the
past to the future. I kept scrapbooks in high school. I became the self
appointed photographer for the theatre department in college. Kept a
journal during college including as an exchange student in London. Kept
letters written to me during college. I exchanged audiotapes, at my
request, instead of letters with my high school boy friend. We were
separated by different college choices.
A
lot of the pictures you will see throughout the book, on this site and
future projects were old photos that I retrieved from Grandmother's
shortly before the family home was destroyed by fire. I'm so glad that
I begged my aunt to go into the attic of her house, which was about to
be sold, to "see" if there was "anything" up there. One of my most
cherished possessions is a recording of my paternal grandmother
reciting a birthday poem to my maternal grandmother for her 90th
birthday.
I
spent hours searching through census records for family connections and
documenting my findings for our family reunions. I informally preserve
special events and milestones from my career years. I recently spent my
birthday in a scrapbooking class with my daughters. My friends now
label me as a "story teller."
Journals
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Author: Ersula Odom
Updated
A Memory Gathering Place...
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Author: Ersula Odom
I've scrapbooked since 1971, however purely to save little pieces of special moments. Not "pretty" pages. My #1 priority is still savoring the pure memory, but now I'm fasci... |
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Author: Ersula Odom
Featured
Usually elders don't like to tell you what they have done. That they were young and foolish too. That they had unbridled drive and hope. That they DID things. So we will do it for them.... |
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Author: Ersula Odom
The photos selected provide a vehicle to share a story, a forgotten slice of time, and a memory.... |
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Author: Ersula Odom
In 1988 Ersula and her family spent an entire day with cousin Charlie laughing and talking about everything from his childhood to words of wisdom. It was recorded on cassette tape and ... |
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Author: Ersula Odom
Featured
Young people are often so busy entering the world of success, fame and fortune we may not know just how wonderful they really are. This is the place where you can shamelessly brag abou... |
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Audios
Videos
Friends
Member may have chosen the Friends to be hidden.
Family
Member may have chosen the Family to be hidden.
Photo Album
OBITS SMART
Family
Photo Memory Loss Club
Photo Reunion Club
Splinters
Testimonials
Groups
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Author: Ersula Odom
Featured
The African American Story has not been fully told and a major generation is aging and their stories fading. Before the picture disappears, we need to preserve them by any means necessary....
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Author: Theresa White
Students will collect videotaped oral histories from African American males in the community, that address their ideas of masculinity and sexuality in the era of President Barack Obama. The students w...
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Author: Merri Whitelock
Find opportunities to make a difference where you live....
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Author: Ronda Knuth
Caring for families grieving the loss of a child through pregnancy or early infant loss. ...
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Author: Carolyn Broom
This is the story of how annointed servants of God delivered the promised land blessings to God's people....
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Author: Wenda Top
Learn how to become a professional scanning specialist....
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