Thursday, January 22, 2009

MEN Scrapbook too!! 90 yr old Roy shares his scrapbook with me...


Being a scrapbook store owner I meet some pretty interesting people. My online message board has brought me a community of friends who I simply cherish. But today while at work in my scrapbook store, I got the pleasure of sitting with Roy. We spent 2 hours looking through his scrapbook he has been keeping most all of his life. Filled my heart with more passion then I have ever had for this industry/hobby before.

This is the cover of his album he made himself. He did masking and painting. His line, "been there done that", is so well explained in all the amazing pages inside his book. This man is not like any 90 year old I have ever met. I would guess him to be late 70's. He can remember names and stories like you would not believe. He had a page on the first Olympic skiier Woman who won a gold medal. Gretchen Frazer. He skiied with her and had a beautiful story to share about her. I could go on and on about the amazing people Roy has had the pleasure of meeting in his lifetime.





Here is shows me how he had a plain page and wanted to spruce it up. He so proudly said I took several colors of paint and just splashed them on there with a paint brush. No rhyme or reason. Just did what I thought looked good. He then matted his pictures and adhered them to his beautiful art work. I smiled huge and said WOW so many of us are doing this technique now. He said " so many people keep from creating because they worry about being nice and neat. They worry about what color, what size pictures. Does this picture go with that picture. He smiled with his huge bright smile and said my concern was getting the story down not what colors and such I used. Isn't this page simply gorgeous! These are all pictures of him as a child! Different stages. The page beside is had all his journaling.


Here is a page one of the pictures was a tin photo. You can see he has journaled here and there. It is a mix and match of old photos he had.


Look at that face! Can you see how I instantly fell in love with him? What a beautiful person he is.



He scrapped all the awards he and his wife ever won. Letters from the war you name it he has it in there. He told me last year he auctioned off a painting he did in the navy that was kept on his ship. His wife was in a home with Alzheimer's and he needed the extra money for her care. He put this painting on ebay and got an amazing amount of money. The Navy bought the painting for their museum. He had a page scrapped with pictures of the painting when he painted it as a young man. Pictures of him with it when he gave it up. The newspaper stories written about it all tucked inside this incredible scrapbook.


I was so blessed to have a customer/friend in the store with her camera on hand since mine was at home. My friends all know I never get my picture taken but today you could not have stopped me. What a moment and photo I will always cherish.


Roy comes to my town 20 miles from where he lives every other week as a Hospice Volunteer. Yes he still drives and I can say I would let him drive me around. He is just that with it. I asked him if he would make a point to stop in and visit me on the days he was in town. He has so many stories to tell. He says he figures he has another 3 or 4 years to live and wants to finish his album up. So we decided we would scrapbook together every other week. What a gift this is to me! I have never been so excited about scrapbooking! I love this hobby but seeing his scrapbook brought such new joy to me. He said " it's a mix match of stuff but if I took the time to organize it this would not be this far along. He is so right we need to get our stories on pages and not spend so much time organizing and planning it out. He also made a point how his favorite photos are the ones not cropped. I could not agree more with this. Seeing the stores and dirt streets in the back ground brought the photos to life. There is so much to learn from this amazing man. He is planning to come speak to a store full of customers who want to hear his stories and also he said he has so much to share about the art of scrapbooking. He said he wants to get tell people what the heart of their albums should be. I am excited about my new friendship with Roy.
I look forward to my time scrapbooking and talking with Roy. I hope to share more here with you then too.



27 comments:

angie worthington said...

stacey, what an awesome story and what an awesome man!!!..that is so cool that he doesn't worry about the pages, just getting the pics & the journaling down in his book...that is a great photo of you 2, one you will always cherish...and, what a handsome man..he has aged very well!!!...we can learn so much from people like him- takes a person back to their roots and a time b/f technology, kwim?...just a fantastic story!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing Roy with us, Stacey! I can hear the passion and excitement in your "voice." What an amazing man, and amazing SCRAPBOOKER. I hope he does come back to share more stories and to teach. I look forward to learning more from him.
~Erika/journeyfan

Anne Marie said...

Dear Roy,

I'm so glad that Stacey shared your story and your album with us. My Dad turns 92 in three weeks. He is the last surviving member of his generation, and I've been slowly (s-l-o-w-l-y) working on capturing his stories for the family. But the reason it's been slow going is that I've let so many other things take priority, including my fussiness about how the album will "look." Roy, I want to thank you for the kick in the patooty I needed to help me finish this album for him and the rest of my family. It's such a joy to sit down and talk with him about his amazing life which span the same decades as yours. You and my Dad both have lived through so much change, not only in our American history but also in your personal lives as maturity and experience have taken you to many places I have yet to go. Thank you for the reminder for me to capture not only my family's history but the lessons my father has learned in his long life. Thank you for walking into Stacey's store! God bless you!

luvzenkm2 (Leea) said...

Stacey, thanks for introducing Roy to us, how lucky future generations are...I have old suitcases full of pictures that nobody knows who they are...look forward to learning from him...God Bless him!

Mylee said...

AMAZING........Stacey, I can't wait to meet him IRL!!!!! Please, please make a time when he can come and talk to us! I would love to meet him and talk to him! He sounds like an awesome man! CAN'T WAIT!

Denise said...

Ahhh-May-Zing!

I can't even put into words how cool he is.

Camilla said...

Wow.. what an amazong man and a wonderful scrapbook. I found a link to your blog over on Ali's blog, and I am so thankful I got to see this.

Veronica Hugger said...

What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing it. Go, Roy, Go!

Jill said...

Thanks - to Roy - for his inspiration and encouragement to get our stories down. I arrived late on the scrapping scene so figure I'm about 20 years behind on telling my stories with pictures but I'm still working on it. I'm working more intensely on getting the written story down. It's so important to the next generation to know the real people that we are.

jessicamae3 said...

that is amazing has his story been told in the newspapers????????

Cindy said...

What a wonderful day you had. I had an 83 yr old patient like that in physical therapy a few yrs ago. Loved her and I want to grow up and be just like her. She was full of life and spunky at 83. Get the stories and enjoy his friendship. You won't regret a minute of it.

obxpatti said...

What an awesome story! And, what a taltented gentleman he is! I would love to have him teach a class! Wow!

GLOANN said...

Stacy, what an amazing man! And he certainly does not look more than 70 in those pics. Wouldn't we all love to sit in on his talks at the store. This is absolutely wonderful, and he has it down pat what scrapbooking is all about. I feel more inspired than ever to quit worrying so much about what my pages look like and just get it done!

Stacy said...

How fun is that? He is a cutie.

Leslie Gilbert said...

What a sweetheart! What a neat story! Glad I "met" you through Stacey Roy! I have already learned something from you!

Christie said...

I think it is unanimous, we all love Roy! Thanks for sharing his story with us. I can't wait to hear more from him!

Born2scrap said...

that is so wonderful! i've got goosebumps just reading his story! please give him some hugs from me next time you see him!

Belabrava said...

That's just awesome, and it makes me want to scrapbook more often! Thanks for sharing with us.
Have a good day

Anonymous said...

Roy is a treasure and should stand as a reminder of WHY we all scrapbook...not for the papers, embellishments or the tools...Roy is the man, hands down!

None None said...

what a great story, Stacey! What a great man too. Hope to see and hear more about Roy's work. Please thank him for his service to our country - a lot of what you said about him and how he spoke reminds me of my grandfather who I miss terribly.

Anonymous said...

Oh my what an awesome story!!!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. His album looks amazing and what a treasure!!! He's a handsome man, I would have never guessed his age!!! He really puts things back where they should be, we scrapbook for our loved ones to know our stories!!!

Thank you Stacey and Roy for sharing such a wonderful story!!!!

Jen ~ScrappyJen~

Unknown said...

What an amazing story!! Brought tears to my eyes! What an amazing scrapbook!!

Kelli said...

WOW! What an amazing new friend you've found through scrapbooking and AMR!!

Bridgett Owens said...

What a treasure! This is awesome and even though I have been scrapping for 10 years, Roy taught me more in your post just now by the things he said than I have learned in a decade! WOW! That is incredible and inspiring!

Vicki Chrisman said...

Oh my gosh.. what a fantastic story! Go Roy!
Thanks for stopping by my blog stacey!

Gabrielle Pollacco said...

What a wonderful story Stacey!!....this is what scrapbooking is all about isn't it!! Thanks for sharing this!

~Gabi xx

wintam said...

It's been over two years since you wrote this post - and I just discovered it. I wonder how Roy is and if you kept your plan to meet again and scrap together.... what an amazing story!