In 1997, Gladys' father William Parker and two of his brothers, Clifford and Bob, asked her to make an album out of a box of photos Bob had inherited from their Aunt Myrtle. Thinking this was an easily accomplished task, she agreed. Before she could finish the initial task, another group of photos cropped up, and as each member of her father's generation passed away, she fell heir to more. In the meantime, her brother Richard pursued the Parker genealogy, and Bob paid a professional genealogist to do the Van Geison and MacGirr lines. This wealth of information proved to be rich material for a family history, against a backdrop of the Battle Creek area, culminating in this publication.