Every Breath a Gift: a Memoir – Interlude to Chapter 2 Childhood & Youth into Adulthood

by
Larry Pearce
posted 2/12/22

The author before his Tom Thumb wedding, 1956

The Introduction to this Memoir promises continuing updates as additional memories flood my brain and others. It’s amazing how these events and stories come at the most unexpected times: while waiting for sleep to come at night; while thinking about what’s ahead as I awake; and while resting at various times throughout the day. Then there are the memories shared by family and friends who are reading these pages. I want to review the thousands of documents and artifacts in my family file and purposefully write or call individuals to collect the thoughts that they hold dear with respect to me and my family. I will be constantly revising, editing, and amending my life story. This is not so different, really, that how we pass our days: constantly changing our ideas, based on our experiences, to fit our reality. Finally, after I finish the final chapter, which I have entitled Chapter 7. The Postlude, I’ll make one more pass at all of this, and thanks to you, I hope to have captured our lives in words and pictures.

In conceiving of this report on my life, I have broken the events into five chapters in addition to the Prelude, each preceded by an Interlude of further explanation like this one:
2. Childhood & Youth into Adulthood, presented in four demographic locations by where I lived and went to school;
3. A Half Century of Marriage, beginning with our engagement, wedding, and honeymoon, and proceeding with three locations in which we raised our children;
4. My Life’s Work, in five categories from odd jobs to work in which I’m still engaged;
5. My Missions & Ministries, from various volunteer services to ongoing church music; and
6. Activities in Retirement, which includes my family history hobby, our vacations, and including what I call One Last Move. Stay tuned for this one.

So, let’s begin. Click here for Chapter 2, Beginnings in Cooperstown, and my birth on May 6, 1948.

Or return to the Table of Contents

Last revised 5/6/22