Jan 15, 2024 · 7:00 AM
Why We Keep This
Families scatter. Hard drives fail. Photo albums fade in attics. I started Heirloom because I watched my father's stories live in only a handful of minds, and I…
By Elena Chen-Rivera
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Sophia Park
Granddaughter · b. 1998
Elena and David's eldest. History teacher and the family's unofficial oral historian. Sophia interviewed Wei the year before he passed and transcribed those conversations into our founding stories.
Related stories
Apr 2, 2018 · 8:00 AM
Last Conversations with Yéye
In the spring of 2018 I sat with Yéye every Thursday afternoon with a recorder and a notebook. He was seventy-eight and tired, but his stories were sharp. He ta…
By Sophia Park
Aug 16, 2008 · 8:00 AM
The First Big Reunion Picnic
By 2008 the family had sprawled across three boroughs and two time zones. We decided on a picnic in Flushing Meadows — the same park where Mom and Dad had wande…
By Elena Chen-Rivera
Related photos
Isla, 4 yearsMaya, 8 months
Sophia with Isla and Maya after the picnic — tablet time on the couch.
Aug 20, 2026 · 8:00 AM · Gatherings
Maya, 8 monthsLeo, 14 monthsIsla, 4 years
Sunset on the shore — three generations, little ones in arms.
Aug 2, 2026 · 8:00 AM · Celebrations
Maya, 6 months
Maya discovering the toy camera — almost as serious as Yéye's old Leica.
Jul 18, 2025 · 8:00 AM · Childhood
Reunion 2022 — three generations under the same oak.
Aug 20, 2022 · 8:00 AM · Gatherings
Sophia recording Wei's stories on the porch, spring 2018.
Apr 2, 2018 · 8:00 AM · Oral Histories
Noah, 7 yearsLucas, 11 yearsSophia, 14 years
Cousins crowded for a portrait — peace signs and summer light.
Jul 4, 2012 · 8:00 AM · Childhood