Keep Your Loved One's Legacy Alive With A Family Memoir

STUDIO CITY (CBS) — If you're dealing with the death of a loved one, helping to preserve your family legacy may be a positive way to help you grieve. Loren Stephens, the founder of Write Wisdom, stopped by KCAL9 Sunday to talk about the importance of capturing memories to tell your own story.

Tips for Families Who Want to Start the Legacy Memoir Process:

• Holidays, like Father's Day, and other family gatherings are the perfect time for families to initiate the process of capturing and recording their Dad's legacy, particularly if they don't have many opportunities to see them or spend quality time with them during the course of the year.

• Communicate to your Dad that his life story is worth sharing and that he is the best person to tell it.

• Make a schedule to conduct formal, recorded interviews. Be sure to take notes as a back up.

• Ask open ended questions that prompt more than just a yes or no answer such as "what happened next?"

• If your Dad says, "I can't remember." Try "if you did remember."

• Don't interrupt or contradict. Be patient: Memory isn't always neat and tidy.