Lisa Louise Cooke Interview Part II

Part Two of my Interview with Lisa Louise Cooke.

Even though Lisa's three daughters have not followed in her footsteps as a "computer geek" or a "genealogist" they have a deep respect and love of the family history. When they were young, Lisa told me, "they used to race to see who would find the tombstone first," when they visited a cemetery. And now, "all three have, at some point, been involved with my business as well." They have helped edit the books, run the booth at conferences, edit the show, and even hosted the show when Lisa couldn't.

When Lisa remarked that her oldest daughter says, "I know my job, when Mom dies I'm in charge of the tombstone and I know what's going on it. Her maiden name will be there."

So I asked Lisa, "speaking of tombstones, what goes on your tombstone?"
She laughingly responded, "I haven't thought about that in a long time. That I was a mother and a wife, and of course my maiden name. I haven't figured out beyond that, the frilly words that go with it." "But," she went on to say, "as deeply driven and passionate, I do think that I have actually found my life's purpose." Lisa feels extremely lucky to have her life's purpose tied up in her chosen career. However, she emphasized that, "the memories and the relationships I'm forging right now with my children and my husband trump all of that ten times over." She feels that it is important that you not get so connected to your ancestors that you ignore your descendants.  "My number one job is to create the memories for tomorrow to create these stories for the descendants to hear about."

More in my next post. Lisa discusses her special talent for taking technology, genealogy and family memories and merging them.