I have always been told that my Grandpa Shelly had a great singing voice. His love of musicals passed down through the generations, even to those of us that never had the chance to know him. Shelly and I just missed each other. I was born two years after he died. Over the years, I’ve asked my Grandma and my Mom to tell me more about him. Oftentimes, their stories would come back to his talent, to his comedy and to the quirky phrases that tend to creep into the language of a father of eight.
But more often than not, we talked about his voice. I couldn’t help but wonder how it sounded. My Mom talked about the cassette tapes that she had saved with Grandpa’s voice and how she wanted to get them converted to a format that she could actually listen to. Like many children around holidays, I decided to beat my Mom to her great idea. With the help of my Dad, we snuck the tapes out of their house and I was able to book a digital conversion with Planted Media Co.
I’ll let my cute Mom tell her side of the story:
“While doing some cleaning, I came across some old cassette tapes that I had not been able to listen to for decades. Who has a tape player anymore!?! I knew they were recordings of me and my Dad when I was just 3 years old. Attempts to listen made me so nervous because the cassette tapes were over 45 years old and quite delicate. They just wouldn’t play. I didn’t want to risk ruining the tapes and destroying these precious memories. So they went back in a box.
Those cassette tapes were my last chance to hear my Dad’s voice, because he died suddenly in 1999. I didn’t know how I was going to save these memories.
My daughter surprised me for Mother’s Day and had Planted Media digitize all of these tapes and save these special memories. The cassette tapes had captured sweet moments of me singing with my Dad, playing games, and him reading to me as a tiny girl. I hardly have photos of me and my Dad together, as his life was cut short, but now I have these audio files preserved forever.
I’m so grateful to Planted Media for such a special service. And to my daughter for giving me such a meaningful gift that I will treasure for a lifetime.”
When we decided to give the audio files a listen, my Mom and I sat at the computer screen with tears in our eyes. After 25 years, she got to hear her Dad’s voice again, and I got to hear Grandpa’s voice for the first time. The tapes simply used to be a reminder of days gone by; now, we get to listen to the recordings as often as we want. I know that I am completely biased, but the digital conversion service truly was so meaningful to our family, and I recommend it to anyone looking to preserve memories like these.
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