Going through the archive chest it was fascinating to read some of these private correspondences, wonder why she kept some newspaper cuttings, and pondered why some of these specific magazines were put in safe keeping for all these years.
However, when I saw the 1956 Illustrated London News with its glossy photograph of the ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, it brought back some specific memories for me.
My parents lived on a dairy farm at Crediton which was a farming community west of Mackay on the Great Dividing Range until I was three years old, then they moved to a suburb in the larger town of Mackay.
So it is from this time that my early memories originate. Down the road from us lived two Dutch sisters who were well renowned by us children as being wonderful biscuit makers. I can recall visiting their house and knocking on the door asking for a biscuit.
Opposite us lived a family with children the same age as us, years later in 1977 I found myself in Sydney at Morling Theological College along with their eldest.
However the most memorable events that are clearest in my mind's eye are associated with my elder brother returning home from school. These events have been reinforced in my memory with each of our four children's first day at school and the exciting stories from them in those early school days.
A first day at school is a 'big family' event for everyone. So too it was for our 1950s family when my elder brother arrived home from that first day and subsequent days at school. We all had a lovely afternoon tea and listened to his exciting stories.
This is where this 1956 glossy photograph comes into the story and why it is seared into my memory. My little sister and I were waiting for my elder brother to arrive home from school. We were on the lounge room floor and my mother was on a lounge chair.
There were two magazines on the floor, this 1956 London Illustrated News with Dame Margot Fonteyn and the local newspaper Women's centrefold with a photograph of a woman sewing and my mother saying that her letter had been published.
The information I took from the conversation as such a small child, was that the centrefold featured my mother.
The problem for me was that the glossy photograph of Dame Margot Fonteyn actually had a close resemblance to my mother's face, and I could not comprehend why this magazine had my mother's photograph whereas the one she was talking about had a photo of someone that didn't look like her at all.
Yet that incident is seared into my mind's eye for all these years. It reminds me of another story where Delma, my wife had her hair done in a new style featuring tight curls when our first-born was about four months of age. The little one didn't recognise who it was coming into the bedroom, and she cried and cried until she recognised her mother's calming voice.
Images like this play such important roles in our lives. The Scriptures are so descriptive, that we can imagine ourselves participating in various scenes. We create the surroundings. I can picture in my mind's eye David's sling shot and Goliath being hit square in the forehead. Similarly Jesus preaching overlooking Lake Galilee (especially since I've been there).
The Holy Spirit's power within us is such that people from around the world read the same Scriptures, with each person placing themselves in familiar surroundings, yet the unified message of Jesus' Salvation is complete within itself.