Ivan Elder spent the decade of his 80s writing the story of his life. He had in front of him as aids to his remarkably clear personal memories a collection of the appointment diaries which he had used to keep his daily life in order. More importantly he had a war-time diary and a collection of the letters he had written home during WW2 and which his mother had carefully preserved. His Pilot’s Logbook and scrapbooks from later overseas trips and collections of cuttings from local newspapers together with notes of meetings and drafts of speeches he had given were additional sources. At times there was probably too much material to work with and he realised that he risked being overwhelmed by detail.

The reality was that Ivan was reviewing the course of his life – reliving past experiences and fondly recalling loved ones and friends from long ago.

It was always Ivan’s intention that his book would be published to give a picture of his life in New Zealand to his grandchildren, especially to the two who were born and brought up in the USA. It was a hope that was not realised during his lifetime. In the course of time the manuscript was painstakingly edited and prepared for printing – i’s were dotted and t’s crossed and typos corrected. In 2017 he agreed that publishing online rather than in physical book form was a more realistic goal. But the work was then lost in a computer crash.

However, recently the harddrive from the old computer has been revived along with the software that was being used for the editing. The files have been recovered and The Book is now offered in PDF format for Ivan’s family and friends to enjoy online.

Ivan’s book ‘My Life’ can be accessed at the elderfamilytree.wordpress.com website alongside other elements of our famiy history.
The direct link to Ivan’s book is here:
https://elderfamilytree.wordpress.com/david-elder-abt-1771-abt-1845/ivan-elder/

There is a Comments section at the bottom of each website page where readers can contribute any corrections of fact or orthography. Likewise it might be a place for family and friends to contribute their own recollections and stories of Ivan’s event-full life.

Warm Regards
Ron Elder