Life Stories preserves memories, family histories

Ann Naegler got the idea for her newly formed Legacies Life Stories business five years ago, while she was on a quest to learn more about her family.

She knew, she said, that a member of her family was on the Cherokee Trail of Tears, and she wanted to find out more.

Naegler, who was a social worker for 28 years and learned firsthand how families affect current and future generations, said that her grandmother had clearly defined Indian features. While Naegler remembers both her grandmother and mother sharing stories with her, she said she didn’t pay much attention to them until several years ago.

“I asked my 92-year-old great-aunt about our heritage, and she appeared insulted, insisting that there were no Native Americans in our family,” Naegler said. “I spoke with several cousins, and they didn’t want to talk about it.”

Her family’s resistance caused Naegler to shelve the idea of a business to help families preserve their histories.

But in 2000, she wrote a biography of her father-in-law, Kurt Naegler, who owned a service station in Springfield and the marina at Fellows Lake. Kurt Naegler died in 2003, but the work on his biography served as a prelude for Legacies.

“We felt we needed to get this done while he still had the ability to tell his story,” said Jane Naegler, Ann Naegler’s sister-in-law, of her father’s biography. “The finished story brought his past alive, and took us back in time. … (Ann) helped him remember some entertaining episodes, and he was very happy with the result.”

With encouragement from family and friends, Ann Naegler talked about her business idea with Carolyn Loehmann, a school friend who was getting ready to retire after 27 years as a school librarian. Loehmann has experience in media and computer technology and state-of-the art graphics video systems.

“Carolyn’s mother-in-law had died, and a friend put together a wonderful video of her life,” Naegler said. “Carolyn said she could do the same kind of thing and would like to work with me, videotaping and putting family photos together.”

Together, the duo started Legacies in September.

For a basic fee of $1,000, Legacies provides up to 10 hours of interviews, a five- to 10-page written history, and the choice of a CD of visual memories or a scrapbook. Legacies also will do just a biography or CD for $500. If a project goes beyond the 10 hours of interviews, Naegler said, the fees are $100 per hour. Gift certificates are available in $50 increments.

Naegler’s interview skills are the result of her social work; her assignments included writing home studies after interviewing adoptive parents. She continues to work with adoptions on a contract basis for independent agencies and teaches social work part time at College of the Ozarks.

However, she said, she finds her work with Legacies to be satisfying – a sentiment echoed by client Mary Underwood.

“After our mom died, my brother and I wanted to get a family history from our dad, who was still alert at 90 years old,” Underwood said.

Her father, Wicenty Grzib (pronounced Vincent Grub), was born in the United States to Polish parents.

“Dad always was a storyteller, but we didn’t hear all the stories,” Underwood added. “With Ann Naegler’s help, we learned that his father had come to St. Louis from Poland and returned to Poland and bought a wife, who would become Dad’s mother.”

Underwood’s father was 2 years old when his mother died, and he was placed in an orphanage, while his three older siblings remained in the home.

“He was raised in orphanages and foster care before going out on his own at age 14,” Underwood said.

Underwood and her brother also learned more about their father’s work as an electrician and line foreman for City Utilities in Springfield. For instance, she said, he served as one of the first collectors for CU, going door-to-door to collect on delinquent accounts. “Sometimes, he would wind up paying their bills out of his own pocket,” she said.

Legacies shares office space with Senior Recruiters Inc. – her husband Eric’s business – and is a division of that venture, along with Total Healthcare Services and Assisting Aging Parents. Both are located at 3451 S. Campbell, as is Eric Naegler’s other company, Senior Recruiters and Total Healthcare Services.

A sample family history is posted online at www.legacies.us.