SENIORS ENCOURAGED TO WRITE THEY WHY OF HISTORY

Genealogy research can turn up a lot of information names, dates, locations, but these are the bare bones of history, not the flesh. They tell us the what, not the why. Why did someone move from Pennsylvania to Ohio, then from Ohio to Missouri?

That why, though, can be filled in for future generations if today's seniors will take the time, according to Diane Runnels of Clas Computers in Cape Girardeau, who is also a genealogist.

In teaching computer classes at Chateau Girardeau, "I told them, If you don't do anything else, document what you know about how life was and what your family did,'" she said. "Think about the houses you grew up in, and describe those houses, the memories that you have, stories you have about the pets you had. That's the stuff I'm interested in, that's what makes it real to me."

There are software programs to write journals, but that isn't a must. As long they write down their stories in some way, Runnels said, their descendants will have the why and have a better understanding of where they came from.