Our Books & More
“Thank you for taking my scribblings and producing this beautiful book for me and my family. I enjoyed working with you on this project and admire your dedication, skill and patience in producing my story!”
Chasing Spring follows Ernest’s remarkable journey of survival in Hitler’s German, of daring rescues of others, and of his narrow escape, only to find himself a World War II U.S. intelligence officer in Papua New Guinea. There, he works with tribes of headhunters and gives driving directions to General MacArthur.
Even in the worst of times, Ernest is sustained by the beauty of plants and gardens.
He goes on to have an eight-decade career as an internationally-regarded landscape architect, becoming one of the world’s first designers of garden centers.
This is not your average Holocaust survival story. Chasing Spring personifies the Jewish experience of living in Germany during the rise of Hitler, and it demonstrates the power of resilience and positivity through stories that are sometimes stranger than fiction!
See Ernest talk about the book on TV!
Published October 2019 - Life in his dad’s butcher shop wasn’t always easy. At six, he was cleaning the display case and sweeping the floors. By the time Bill was twelve, he was hauling slabs of meat twice his weight, slaughtering chickens, and carving out the succulent meat in pig’s cheeks. Precocious and smart, he skipped third grade, and from then on felt the pressure to make his mark, younger than everyone in his class. When World War II rampaged, he trained to be a Navy pilot, dive bombing and landing on aircraft carriers. His timing was fortunate. The war ended just before the last days of his training. But back home he faced another challenge. He was back in the butcher shop, not where he wanted to be, but what could he do with a beautiful wife and young family to support at the age of 22? After a slew of business ventures, it was his experience as a third-generation butcher that led to a successful enterprise. Bill popularized beef jerky and turkey jerky as snack foods in the U.S. and the world. He went on to be an early player in the self-storage industry and always had a new venture to explore! All the while, he kept taking to the air in whatever plane he could, served his community, loved his family, played sports galore, and flew in the air each year heli-skiing in Canada. Despite life’s challenges and losses, it has been 95 years of Flying High!
What a fun book to create, full of great stories, family history, and valuable reflections.
The key to a great family cookbook—besides great recipes—is the personalization. Adding comments, pictures and humor make this a treasured gift for family and friends!
“I just finished reading the first chapter about my Dad and I think it is great. I both cried and laughed while reading it. I like the way you kept the phrasing close to Dad’s spoken word. It makes it more authentic and personal sounding.”
Eun Sul wrote his memoir and needed both a content and copy editor, designer and publisher to complete it. I was happy to help him deepen this wonderful story in which he leaves behind an invaded country and war to find a highly successful academic life, rich with family and friends.
With five grandparents and not a lot of money to spend on the project, Short Stories to Last fit the bill! Each of the five books were based on two hours of interview, with light editing, a little historical context, and storyteller review. We also created a book that contains all five personal histories. What a treasure for the grandkids!
The love of your life is gone. What do you do? CARRY ON! In Carry On: Travels Around California and the USA, author Elisabeth Levy discovers places, people, history, and more about herself through travels around the country and her home in Sonoma County. In each tale, even the frightening evacuation before a quick-approaching wildfire and quarantined during the global pandemic, she finds humor, new understanding, and especially hope.
Elisabeth’s latest and declared last book, it is a collection of stories and vignettes from her life, a Kaleidoscope of experiences! Available on Lulu.com.
Diane wasn’t used to telling her life story. When she did, she was surprised by how many valuable stories had to share. And how fun it was to share them with her beloved family!
Jim ended up enjoying the interview process much more than he expected and found he had much he wanted to share in his rich life, full of activities, travel, hobbies, a wonderful career, his childhood, and above all his family whom he adored. We decided to fill the book full of photos, making them more accessible to his family than photo albums and online albums.
As an Oakland Rotarian, creating this book was near and dear to my heart! The Centennial book for the Rotary Club of Oakland tells the story not only of the club, but of the history of Rotary and the city of Oakland, California. New members receive the book when installed. Guest speakers receive the book as a gift. I’d love to help other Rotary clubs save their stories! Also, ask me about speaking to your Rotary Club, storytelling about Rotary and some of its amazing history. Do you know how the Four-Way Test was created?
With the completion of this gorgeous book, with contributions by many long-time members, the community enjoyed an accompanying video and a spectacular 50th anniversary gala celebration. What wonderful people to work with! And a beautiful place to live.
Author Jack Freethy had never written a book before. We were equally happy and proud to assist Jack in making his delightful autobiography a reality. Jack wrote some wonderful stories. Stories to Last provided questions and comments to help him add depth to those stories. Stories to Last edited it all together, scanned all the images, designed and finally published Happy, Proud and So Many Memories. Look for Jack’s Game of Joyful Memories, a fun way to add gratitude to your daily life and remember all the wonderful moments!
The origins and mission of the Oakland 100 Club. Written and directed by Stories to Last.
What an amazing history! The Club’s origins tie directly to the Big Four railroad tycoons, early California history and even the origins of golf in Scotland! Working with my co-author and the organization was a great experience.
This book started with a collection of annual Christmas letters sent to friends and family. It became so much more, a true legacy!
What an amazing organization! The oldest continuous women’s rowing club in the nation. Sometimes, working by committee can be tough, but not for the Ladies of the Lake, who wrote some wonderful stories and collected stunning photographs for the book. The collaboration and all they brought to the project made it a treasure for their members.
