NEWARK — The Fern Dell Historical Association will host a memory writing group from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursdays, starting Sept. 13 at Fern Dell Museum, 9 E. Front St. Sessions will continue every Thursday until Nov. 30.

Guidelines will be given on writing memories to share with your family. The completed stories could make great gifts for children and grandchildren.

The group is being led by Vic Stott, who said he got the idea from an uncle who wrote a lot of his stories before his death.

“I’ve got copies of most of them about his time in the services, growing up on the farm, the one-room schoolhouse he attended, games they played – a whole treasure of things,” Stott said.

“That got me motivated to start writing, too, for my children and grandchildren. I’m 64 and things have changed so much with what kids have and what they can do with technology. They really don’t know anything about life in the ’40s and ’50s and even farther back,” Stott said.

He said his father died young, so he knew nothing about his father’s military service. “I went to some of his ship reunions years later and it was interesting to find out things I never would have known about,” Stott said.

For that reason, he said he has written about his own service in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War for his family.

“I’ve been putting together some different themes that people might want to write about – cars, making their own clothes, quilts handed down, recipes handed down. This is a short class, but it could go on for months,” he said.

“I’m really hoping I can get a few people to come and share. I love hearing other people’s stories,” Stott said.

“Everybody has stories.”

For more information, call Stott at 630-553-6878.