Lia Emry

“My grandpa is someone who was very impactful to me as I was growing up. He wasn’t the ‘let’s go play catch’ or ‘let’s play a game’ type of grandpa, he was the ‘sit on my lap and I’ll tell you a story’ grandpa. As a veteran who served in World War II and The Korean War, he was never short on stories. As I got older, we would often spend time together driving from his home to the small town where he grew up. We really didn’t have much of a destination in mind, it was more about the time together in the car. During these hours, the stories he told helped shape who I am, the value I place on family and home, and my perspective on our armed forces. After he died, I missed these long talks but value the oral history that he passed to me and I can now pass along to my children as they learn to enjoy long drives with mom,” – Leslie Lindsey, English