One of the reasons we love what we do here at M.R. Sterling Productions is that part of the job is preserving memories for people. Not just preserving them in a metaphorical way via film production, but in a literal albeit digital way in the form of guaranteed storage of at least 100 years—yep, that’s a thing. We can do this for all of our legacy video clients. A number of weeks ago, we had the privilege of producing a Legacy Video for a dear friend of ours. His name is Bruce Newell. His story is compelling.

Bruce was born 10 years before WWII. His father was in the Navy serving on the USS Hornet and came from a very blue-collar background. His mother was from Virginia and her family was rather high society. In fact, after his grandfather passed away, his grandmother remarried to a man who was the editor of the National Geographic.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States formed a naval retaliatory response.  The Hornet was outfitted with 16 B-25B bombers, now known as Doolittle’s Bombers, and set out for Japan. The Hornet was in several battles in early months of the war but was sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz.  Bruce’s dad was killed by a bomb during the first attack wave. It was lost beneath 17,000 feet of Pacific Ocean and remained lost until this past February.

Bruce himself eventually grew and went to college and even made the centerfold of Sports Illustrated for making All-American as a soccer goalie. He ended up joining the Navy and ultimately became an Admiral on a cruiser called the USS Bainbridge. He held several positions before retiring in the 1980’s because he felt called to be a Pastor.

His wife of several decades was killed in a car accident around 1990. Bruce eventually remarried to a woman name Theresa, a professor of old testament studies in the Pittsburgh area. To this day, Bruce and Theresa serve all over the community in which they live.

There’s so much more to their story, but I hope that what you’ve read gives you some sense of the awe-inspiring moments we experience when doing our work. And here’s the thing, a story isn’t worth telling just because it would make a good book. A story is worth telling because all of us have loved ones, and future generations who want to know about your life and loves. People everywhere, all the time are wondering what they’re ancestors were like. For many, it’s how they form part of their identity. For us, our identity comes from another place and that defines who we are. Even still, it’s a truly wonder-filled thing to be able to pass on the values we hold dear to anyone who would care to stop and listen.