School of Life

The other day as I was contemplating an upcoming assignment to teach a class on Vital Records at my local Genealogoical Society, I began thinking about what I would want on my introductory bio. I don't know if you have been to a genealogy conference or seminar before, but the usual opening is for the moderator to introduce the speaker and give a brief resume of his or her accomplishments in the field of genealogy. This includes college degrees, advanced training, experience, etc. I got to thinking about what I would put on my resume if I'm asked to provide one.

College degrees? Does graduation from an airline school with the placement of #1 in my class count for anything? Well, probably not, as far as genealogy goes.

Am I a Certified Genealogist? Well, no, not really.

What experiences have brought me to this point? Well, I guess I could say that doing genealogy (aka family history research) for the past 38 years counts for something, and that my experiences in this field all come from what I like to call "The School of Life."

I further began to contemplate my accomplishments, and the accomplishments of many people whom I have known over the years.

Take the computer (no, please don't, I'd be lost without it). When I worked for a major airline 22+ years ago, computers and word processessing were fairly new. Towards the end of my six-year career in the airline industry, I realized that if I wanted to go to work in an office setting again, I'd probably need to go back to school for that computer and/or word processessing training. Fast-forward to about eleven years ago when we bought our first home computer, then continue fast-forwarding to present day, and I realized that through the "School of Life" I have pretty good computer and word processing skills, learned not in a classroom, but as I used my computer for various projects. I've done newsletters for PTA, church, and now for the Sweet Adelines Chorus I belong to. Better still, the "School of Life" doesn't cost much extra, unless you count for things like a computer or any other tool that you use on a daily basis.

My husband is also a graduate of "The School of Life." He's fairly handy with tools, handy enough that you could count on one hand the number of times any of our cars have gone to a mechanics shop in 38+ years of marriage, and the only time one of our appliances made it to the shop was a washing machine which was still under warranty. Has he had special schooling for this? Not on your tintype! He learned from observing his father, learned from books, learned from doing. He's one of these people who sits down with a book, then goes out to the garage and goes from there. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of money he has saved us over the years in repair bills!

My father-in-law was skilled in many areas, yet never had any special training, than the experience life handed him. He was an accomplished photographer and ran several photo processing plants for most of his career. He started off as a musician, a country western singer & guitarist. He built furniture and cabinets. He could keep cars running. Probably a lot more skills that I can't remember any more, as well. He had a doctorate from "The School of Life."

My dad started as a ranch hand before working for the railroad. His railroading career was interrupted by WWII. His war training was in mechanics, and somewhere along the way he learned welding and fabricating. He worked for more than 25 years as a welder for a steel company. He built boat trailers for the boats he owned, and for friends; they were sturdier and better than anything you could buy. He built a trailer for his 23 foot boat while it was in the water, and when it was completed and the boat put on it, he only had to adjust one roller for it to be "perfect." My dad also received a doctorate from "The School of Life."

It used to be you didn't go to school to learn something before embarking on your career. You were trained "on the job," or your skills came about because of what you had already done. And you didn't learn just one skill, but many. Much different than our time.

"The School of Life" has been around for as long as mankind has been around. Our fathers and grandfathers; mothers and grandmothers, were graduates. In most cases they have passed down to us their knowledge. I hope we were paying attention. I hope we will continue to pass on our knowledge to our children and grandchildren. Some day, we may all need the lessons learned in "The School of Life."