of not asking while our elders while they are still with us. I was guilty of that as well... but not entirely guilty.
Some years ago I went to every 'elder' in my family, many born in the 1800's, and interviewed them... or sort of... I just talked to them, took notes, recorded their stories... no matter how grand the stories or how trivial they were. And believe me... I have a LOT of relatives... then and now.
Soon after we had a family reunion... nearly everyone came... somewhere around 300 people. I had written up the 'history' and made a small book for everyone to take home with them.
many of my relatives, sad to say, had already passed on before I took on that project... and thus... their tales lost to history. Keep at, Steve... it's important. - JamesJM