How to make a memory book for someone who died

What to put in it

• A portrait for the cover.
• A short life story: where they were born, school, work, marriage, children, the places they lived.
• Photos from every decade, with names and years under them.
• Stories and memories from family and friends, one page each.
• Their recipes, ideally in their own handwriting.
• Letters, cards, and the sayings everyone remembers.
• The obituary and the eulogy.
• Messages people left at the funeral or on the memorial page.
• A simple family tree, so the grandchildren know where they fit.

How to gather everything

The photos are in a dozen phones and closets, and the stories in the heads of relatives in different cities. Make a list of everyone you want to ask, and send one clear message with a date:

• Collect everything in one place, not in a group chat where it gets lost.
• Scan the old photos at a good resolution. See How to digitize old photos.
• Interview the oldest relatives. Record them on your phone and write down the best stories.
• Send a reminder a week before the date. Most people need one.

How to lay it out

• Choose an order: by the decades of their life, or by themes such as family, work, travels, the kitchen, the garden.
• One story and one or two photos per page is easy to read. Leave white space.
• Write captions with names, places and years. In fifty years nobody will know who is who.
• Keep the voices. Use people's own words, and sign each story with their name.

Most memory books have between 30 and 100 pages.

How to make it

• An online photo book service: you upload photos and text and choose a template. Good if one person in the family enjoys design.
• A local print shop can print and bind a book you design yourself.
• A handmade scrapbook, with printed photos and handwritten pages. Personal, but only one copy.
• From a memorial page: if the family has gathered photos, stories and recipes on a Voljeni page of memories, the book is laid out from the page in one of five designs. AI drafts the introduction and the texts, you read and correct them, and you see a sample before you buy. You get it as a PDF to send to the family, and it can also be printed with hard covers.

When to give it

Families most often give the book on the first anniversary, on a birthday, at a holiday or at a family reunion, when everyone is together. Order one copy for each child or each household, and send the PDF to those who live far away. It is a gift that is opened again every year.

See an example of a page of memories, from which a book can be made.