ABOUT US | Greenville SC | Memories In Writing

Our Team:

Rhondia

Paper Shredder

Our Story

Memories In Writing is built on a family connection to storytelling that spans multiple decades.

Years ago, Rhondia Turano founded and owned a publishing company where people brought their handwritten pages, typed memories, family histories, and spoken stories to be transformed into books. Her children grew up around the business, often helping along the way. Lachelle and CyRita became especially involved in listening to clients, assisting with interviews, and helping capture the stories people wanted their families to remember.

What began as a family business became an increasingly personal mission as the family experienced the effects of dementia firsthand and saw how quickly memories, details, and familiar stories could begin to disappear.

Today, Memories In Writing carries that experience forward with one simple belief: Everyone Has A Story To Tell® and every story deserves the opportunity to be preserved.

Our Mission Continues

The family’s commitment to preserving stories has continued to grow, including through Memories In Writing Foundation Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to help make storytelling and memoir resources available to people who might not otherwise have access to them.

Memories In Writing LLC proudly supports that mission by contributing a portion of its proceeds toward the Foundation’s work, including storytelling programs, memoir workbooks, and other opportunities to help people capture and preserve their memories.

From a family publishing business decades ago to the work being done today, the purpose has remained remarkably consistent:

To inspire and empower people to capture and share their stories with current and future generations.

Rhondia’s Story

Rhondia’s connection to storytelling began decades ago through the publishing company she founded and owned. Helping people turn their memories and experiences into books showed her that some of the most meaningful stories are not found in history books. They are found within our own families.

She reflects, “I often think about what future generations will know about us. Will they know the stories behind the photographs, the lessons we learned, the things that made us laugh, or the traditions that mattered to our family?”

That question became deeply personal when Rhondia’s mother, still in her 50s, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Later, while balancing her career, businesses, children, and the care of aging parents experiencing different stages of dementia, preserving family stories took on even greater meaning.

Those experiences continue to drive her commitment to helping others capture their memories while they still have the opportunity to tell them in their own words.

Lachelle’s Story

Lachelle’s fascination with personal stories began in childhood and has only deepened over the years. She recalls, “In my early years, I had the privilege of working at my mother’s publishing company, where we transformed handwritten, typed, or spoken stories into completed books. While we worked on a variety of projects, from cookbooks to fiction, I quickly discovered that my heart was drawn to memoirs.”

Her passion continued to grow as she pursued her master’s degree, volunteered in senior living communities, and watched her grandmother’s memories fade due to dementia.

Inspired by those experiences, Lachelle modernized the family’s original Do-It-Yourself Memoir Workbook, first published in 2002, making it easier for people to capture and preserve their own stories.

The workbook and memoir interview service became cornerstone offerings of Memories In Writing and an important part of the family’s continuing mission to preserve stories for future generations.

CyRita’s Story

CyRita also grew up surrounded by stories. As a young person helping in her mother’s publishing company, she listened to clients talk about their lives, assisted with interviews, and learned how a simple conversation could uncover memories that might otherwise never be recorded.

She describes that connection this way: “I’ve always enjoyed talking with people and hearing about the experiences that shaped their lives. Sometimes all it takes is the right question and a little time to listen, and suddenly you hear a story you never knew existed.”

That ability to connect with people continued throughout her career in Human Resources and in her work with older adults. Her experiences watching first her grandmother, and later her grandfather, journey through dementia made the importance of preserving those conversations even more personal.

For CyRita, Memories In Writing is a continuation of something she has been doing much of her life: listening, connecting, and helping people know that their stories matter.