Write Your Life In Recording Your Life, Not Only Do You Re-Live It, You Also Leave The Stories For Future Generations

Ask Flo Bowen what she did last weekend and she’ll tell you she went bicycle riding in France.

She might even mention her journey through the jungles of India.

And what does the 89-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident have planned for this weekend?

“This weekend, I think I’ll go up to (Mount Everest),” she giggles.

While most of her friends are complaining about constant bouts with boredom, Bowen is having the time of her life … all over again.

Bowen is just one of a growing trend of older Americans “re-living” life by writing their autobiographies.

In the past, autobiographies were generally considered the province of the famous. But in recent years, ordinary people have created written or oral personal histories to make the details of their lives available to family and friends.

“It really serves as a way to validate your life,” says David Abrams, who, as senior vice president of Hospice Foundation of America, works with a lot of older people. “It’s a way to provide a thread from generation to generation.”

After constant goading by her daughter, Sandra Diaz, to put her life on paper, Bowen decided last year to write her memoirs.

“I just did it to make her happy,” Bowen says.

Kate Winters, a former free-lance writer who founded the personal biography service Biography for Everyone in 1989, is aiding Bowen through the process.

Since starting her business, Winters has produced biographies for about 30 people across the country.

Winters’ work ranges from $500 “mini-memories” of six 60-minute audiotaped sessions, to $7,000 for fully rewritten biographies, completed as a manuscript, paperback, hardbound or leatherbound.

Recording memoirs takes weeks to months, but Winters allows the client to work at his or her own pace.

Five months into the process, Bowen says it has been nearly as exciting as her life.

Although she went to Europe while in college, Bowen really started traveling after Harold, her husband of 25 years, died in 1962. Since then, she has been around the globe, almost.

“Well, I haven’t been to Australia,” she says.

There are numerous other ways to do personal histories, from video recordings to do-it-yourself books written on the subject.

Hospice offers a package called “A Guide to Recalling and Telling Your Life Story” at a cost of $25. The guide, which also comes in the form of a $5 video, gives step-by-step instructions to writing a biography. It is designed to be done with a family member, friend or by the individual. No matter how it’s done, Abrams says, it’s important that the story be told.

“If it’s not written down, when the person dies, the story dies with him,” he says.

Of course, recording personal histories is not confined to older people, Winters points out.

Memoirs can be done by people going through life transitions, such as retirement or divorce.

“Everyone has a story to tell,” Winters says. “At the point you feel the need to tell the story, tell it.

“If you put it off, it may never get done.”

Bowen says she’s glad she finally listened to her daughter.

“This makes me feel young again,” Bowen says. “I just wish I was as young and husky, I would just keep going.”

Kate Winters of Biography For Everyone can be reached by calling (954) 458-8540.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Put your life on paper Interested in writing your autobiography? Here’s a list of books that may help: “The Story of Your Life: Writing a Spiritual Biography,” by Dan Wakefield; Beacon Press, Boston, Mass., 1990, $14. “How to Write Your Own Life Story,” by Lois Daniel; Chicago Review Press Inc., Chicago, Ill., 1991, $12.99. “How to Write the Story of Your Life,” by Frank P. Thomas; Writer’s Digest Books, 1984 (catalog, (800) 289-0963, or write Writer’s Digest Books, 1507 Dana Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45207), $17.95. “Writing Personal Essays: How to Shape Your Life Experiences for the Page,” by Sheila Parker; Writer’s Digest Books, 1995, $11.95. “A Guide for Recalling and Telling Your Life Story,” Florida International University, 1994, developed for and available from The Hospice Foundation of America, Miami Beach, (800) 854-3402. $25 written, $5 video.