I Wish I’d Asked That . . . Family Questionnaire Part I

Thursday, August 17th, 2017     by Debra DuPree Williams     One Comment

by Debra DuPree Williams @ DDuPreeWilliams

DuPree Siblings with Spouses and Two Nieces 1980s
I’m of the generation that is likely next for Glory. My parents went home to be with the Lord in 1996 and 2012. While my sister and I did encourage them to tell us many of their life stories, there are still things we wish we had asked. Before it was too late.

The Past has Passed
There are things about our grandparents we wish we knew. We were too young to care when they were still alive. My Granddaddy DuPree, my last grandparent, died when I was only thirteen. I can tell you that at that age, I didn’t care about much besides getting to spend at least a couple of weeks with my cousins in the summer time. How I wish we had gathered around family members and asked all the things we would love to know now.

If you haven’t begun a memoir or if you don’t care about writing such, how about just answering some questions with a sentence or two? I think most people could and would do that. Perhaps you could get one of your children or even a grandchild to write down your answers.

Let’s Get Started
Below are just a few questions to get you started. I will use multiple posts to make this easier and more manageable. These questions can be used not just for you, but for your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and any other family member you wish to question. Some may seem obvious, but believe me, you may be surprised at what you thought you knew. For example, we always thought our mother was born in the same county in which we were born. She wasn’t. She was born in a totally different county, at her grandmother’s home. And she wasn’t the first of the twins to be born, she was last, making her her father’s seventeenth and final child.

If you don’t like my questions, make up your own. This is just a basic guideline. Have fun with this, and be very glad that you didn’t wait too long.

The Questions:

Your Childhood, Schooldays, and College:

  • When and where were you born?
  • Where did you get your name?
  • Where did you fall in birth order?
  • What is your earliest memory?
  • Where did you live when you were a child?
  • Tell us about your home(s) and how long you lived in each one.
  • Who were your closest friends?
  • Where did you go to school?
  • How did you spend your free time?
  • Did you play outdoors or mostly indoors?
  • What games did you play?
  • What were your favorite television shows?
  • What was your favorite music?
  • Did you play an instrument or did you sing or dance?
  • Were you in any groups such as FFA or Scouts?
  • Were you in any clubs or groups in high school?
  • Who were your favorite teachers?
  • What were your favorite subjects.
  • How old were you when you began dating?
  • Were you allowed to go steady?
  • Did you learn to drive in high school? Did you take driver education?
  • Did you ever own your own car or did you drive the family car?
  • Did you take college entrance exams? How did you do on those?
  • Did you attend college? Where, and what was your major?
  • What degree or degrees did you earn?
  • Did you use that degree in your professional life?
  • Were you in a fraternity or a sorority? Which one?
  • Were you in any groups, such as academic societies?
  • Were you in sports in college? Which one(s)?
  • Were you active in musical groups or theatre?

This is a good start. Next time we’ll enter your adult years.


Can you think of any other questions you’d like to ask about your relatives’ formative years? Leave those in the space below. 

Tweetable

1 Comment

    The Conversation

  1. Callie Daruk says:
    October 3, 2019 at 4:59 pm

    Hi sweet Debra, what a lovely post. So many important facts get either lost or embellished over the years. What a great way to get others started if they aren't already.

Comments are closed.