Becoming Faye: Authors Note

As I’ve continued posting blogs each week, I’ve been thinking about what I know to be a matter of record, how the memories of family members have informed my understanding of the past, and how I’ve had to fill in the blanks between them. This author’s note helps explain that.

This memoir is based on my own memories, family stories told to me throughout my life, historical research, and documents I have found through genealogical and public records.

Some facts in this story are supported by records, including where family members lived, how long they remained there, and the dates of marriages, births, deaths, and other important events. Other parts come from stories told to me repeatedly by my mother, grandmother, and sisters, who lived through them.

Many of the events described here took place before I was born, and no complete record exists of every conversation, gesture, room, or ordinary moment. Where details were missing, I reconstructed scenes, dialogue, actions, and surroundings based on the facts I knew, the accounts I had been given, and research into the time and place.

Certain objects, sensory details, and moments have been imagined to help bring those events to life. They are not intended to alter the substance of what happened, but to fill the spaces between the documented facts and the family stories that formed the foundation of this memoir.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy.