Live Oak Legacies Wants to Tell Your Family’s Story

This guest blog article is by Daja Gegen.

Kathryn Gonzales has always had a fondness for stories, particularly those of the elderly. She is founder and owner of local business Live Oak Legacies, a family history service committed to capturing a family’s most important stories.

Through Live Oak Legacies, Kathryn provides clients with audio and visual media that document the stories of their loved ones, giving back to the age group she is so fond of.

Befriending Mr. Brooks

An Austin native, Gonzales was a journalism student at The University of Texas when she met the man who would become her “granddad.” While living in East Austin, she befriended Mr. Brooks, an elderly man living across the street from her. Though, it may be more accurate to say that Mr. Brooks befriended her.

“My roommates and I used to host Thanksgiving every year for all of our friends. One year, we invited all the neighbors,” Gonzales said. “The only person to show up was Mr. Brooks. He was the hit of the party. From that point on, he and I developed this amazing friendship. We went to lunch every week and I visited him at his home. One day I just asked him, because I didn’t know either of my grandfathers, if he would adopt me as his granddaughter. He was so honored. From then on, he was Grandpa Brooks and I was Granddaughter Kat.”

Live Oak Legacies Is Born

After graduation in 2006, Gonzales followed a new job to New York City. Over the next three and a half years, she worked for a couple of digital media startups. While she loved wearing many hats and enjoyed the challenges and autonomy of the startup culture, she soon found herself at a crossroads. “I was ready for a new challenge. I was either going to work for another startup, or I was going to start my own company.”

Through a conversation with her best friend, the answer suddenly became clear. “It hit me like a lightning bolt, Gonzales told me. “My best friend identified, ‘you have a journalism background, and have many senior citizen friends…’”

From that, the seed for Live Oak Legacies was planted. The name of the company is a play on the notion of a family’s “living legacies,” as well as a tribute to Austin’s own Treaty Oak, the last surviving member of the Council Oaks before its vandalism in 1989. (Gonzales remembers attending the memorial service as a child.)

“The idea for Live Oak Legacies started with just doing books to tell [family members’] stories. Then I really started thinking about how we could add the most value for families. Capturing the essence of someone on video is unparalleled. But at the same time, having a tangible book is really important too.”

Gonzales works with a network of videographers, designers and web developers to develop the multiple deliverables. After the initial family interview, which typically lasts about three hours, the book is produced and all photos are digitized. For the marquee Heirloom Package, a website is created to round out the rich, multimedia experience for the family. Gonzales notes that the website, which hosts a PDF of the book and all the photos in a downloadable format, serves as a connection to the family’s younger generation.

Preserving the Family Legacy

The digitization of the family’s photos is a hot button for Gonzales, an issue as personal as it is practical. With just two hard copy photos left of her grandmothers, both of whom she deeply loved and respected, she wishes that the preservation of these artifacts would have taken place before they passed away.

Lucky for Mr. Brooks’ family, they were able to receive this gift before it was too late.

“I finished it before he passed away and then the project took on this pretty magical extension. His family had his video on loop and book on display at the memorial service and we added a guestbook to their website so that friends and family could express their condolences.”

Looking Forward

Live Oak Legacies looks forward to forging “really strong relationships” within the Austin community and Gonzales is excited for what 2014 will bring for the company. “We are looking at partnerships with local Assisted Living Centers and the JCC [Jewish Community Center],” Gonzales said. “The focus is really on Austin.”

With all of the interesting people she gets to work with, does she have a dream client? “Willie Nelson,” she smiled. “I’d love to get a chance to capture his story.”

For more information, visit www.liveoaklegacies.com.

Daja Gegen is an Austin transplant from Las Vegas who is currently incurring a complicated identity struggle between life-long health nut and newfound queso addict. Follow her on Twitter at @dajaelise.

 

All photos courtesy of Kathryn Gonzales.