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Your life story

Rosella Bonham, who is 83, never told her children that she sang and danced on Broadway in her youth or supported her family as a young girl by singing in Jewish weddings. They didn't know that her grandmother, glaring at the men who came to search her home, hid her mother under a long, full skirt to protect her from persecution. Bonham never told her children how their grandmother and great-grandmother hiked across Russia, fleeing anti-Semites, after two uncles were dragged from their home and killed. But Bonham understands she won't be around forever. She's aging, and her health is failing. She felt compelled to share these stories, so she hired It's Time to Tell Your Story Studios to make a personal video biography this summer. "It was the most wonderful thing," she says, her voice thickening with swallowed tears, "to let my heart come out." The studio creates customized videos using a standard process. After completing a pre-interview and an extensive questionnaire, the client sits down with an experienced interviewer for a two-hour session, which is filmed and put on DVD. Bonham says that she was nervous but that when she sat down the stories flowed. She told how she was born prematurely after her mother took a tumble down a flight of stairs. "They wrapped me in newspaper and put me in a box under the bed. They thought I was dead until they heard me crying," she says. "It wasn't funny then, but it's kind of funny now." Pictures alone, she says, would never have told that story. Allowing her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to see her explaining where they came from is one of the most important things she's ever done, she says.

Another personal historian is Steve Pender, owner of Family Legacy Video. He began creating custom biographies after 27 years of making corporate videos by crafting one for his grandmother. The grateful reaction of his family persuaded him to shift from the corporate world to personal histories. He acknowledges that his work isn't cheap, ranging from $400 to several thousand dollars, but, citing his own family, he says the return is great for those who have the money to invest in the project. Pender tries to keep the videos to about an hour so families will watch more than once. Carol Zuckert, owner of Remember and Record, creates a more extensive chronicle, as does historian Amy Miller Gray. When these women finish their work, clients have a memoir of a loved-one's life complete with pages of pictures. Zuckert's volumes are longer; Gray's are more artistic. Repeated interviews, Zuckert says, allow her to develop relationships and pull out details. As she flips through the volumes she has created, she talks about the personalities. "They were so in love," she says of one couple. "I don't think she's really been able to let him go." Both women start with basic information, then move on to more random questions, trying to dig as deeply as client comfort will allow. "I might ask if someone's parents had a pet name for them before they were born," Gray says. Most of the people who want the histories, the recorders say, are middle-age children who want to know about and preserve their parents' stories. The historians say people often find it easier to talk to the interviewer than to their families. Discoveries are made during the process. Bonham says she'd likely not have told her children about how a poster of Uncle Sam inspired their grandfather, fresh off the boat from Germany, to join the American Army though he spoke hardly a word of English, if she hadn't hired someone to take down her history.

"My kids said, 'We didn't know. You didn't tell us,' " Bonham says. "I told them, 'You didn't ask.' " One of Bonham's sons, whom she doesn't often see, scheduled a trip to Tucson after she sent him the video. He and his wife still have questions, and they want to make sure she answers them. "I needed to tell them what my forefathers did," Bonham says. "You have to leave something behind for them to know." An even better part, she adds, is that they want to know right now.

History recorders Family Legacy Video ● Process: Steve Pender pre-interviews clients. He then sets up cameras and lights and interviews the subject for one to two hours. During the editing process, he constructs a story arc, rearranging and sometimes going back for second interviews to add audio. He also smoothes out pauses during conversation to create a professional look. Video purchases include raw footage and a transcript of the interview. ● Pricing: Because personal biographies can be cost-prohibitive, Pender offers a how-to CD for $24.95. A photo montage with music costs $385. A straight oral history, what Pender describes as a "talking head" interview, costs $4,295. The fully customized version, which involves considerably more editing, starts at $8,500. Pender also gives free presentations to groups. ● Contact: Call Pender at 743-4090 or log on to www.familylegacyvideo.com online. The Web site also has links to sites on writing memoirs, journaling, tracking down ancestors and more for do-it-your-selfers. It's Time to Tell Your Story Studios ● Process: Trained interviewers, such as journalists, personal historians or genealogists, spend an hour talking to a client who has filled out a nine-page questionnaire. The interview subject comes to the studio and completes a two-hour interview, which is transferred onto a DVD. ● Pricing: In addition to the two-hour life story, which costs $1,200, the studio also will do a half-hour child interview for $250. For a special event or milestone, such as a wedding, graduation or retirement, the studio will make a half-hour video journal, which requires a 30-minute pre-interview and a short questionnaire, for $275. Each package comes with two DVDs. Extras cost $15 each. ● Contact: The studio is at 2200 E. River Road, Suite 125. Call 615-7556 to set up an appointment. Log on to www.itstimetotell-yourstorystudios.com online. Remember and Record ● Process: Carol Zuckert conducts eight to 10 hour-and-a-half interviews over the course of a few months. She transcribes all of the interviews and organizes them. Sometimes, she hires a writer to craft a narrative. She also spends hours gathering and arranging photographs. Eventually, all of the materials come together in a written biography, complete with pictures. The professionally bound and printed volumes are large, sometimes looking like an encyclopedia. The whole process takes a year or longer. ● Pricing: Costs vary widely depending on length. Zuckert starts at $5,000. ● Contact: Call Zuckert at 881-0381. Amy Miller Gray ● Process: Gray, who has several years of journalism experience, spends eight to 10 hours interviewing the client and friends and family before composing a narrative. While interviewing, she uses a "shotgun approach," asking as many questions as she can on as many subjects as she can think of. That's how she moves clients past reciting facts and into telling their stories. Her books are similar to Zuckert's, only with less text and more pictures. She also does event books, which focus on one event in an individual's or couple's life. ● Pricing: Books start at $250 and can cost as much as $10,000. ● Contact: Call Gray at 247-1538 or e-mail her at amy@lifechronicles.com. Log on to www.life-chronicles.com for more information.