About Us
Extraordinary Lives is a family-owned company, created to provide help with memoirs that celebrate today and preserve cherished life stories for tomorrow.
I (Mary Ann) operate this business as my full-time career. I'm one of the lucky ones in this world...doing work that is meaningful and joy-filled. My passion for personal histories comes from my own family, especially my father and my daughters.
Thanks to my father, I have a huge and incredibly dispersed extended family. Despite their distance from one another, my aunts, uncles and cousins have kept in close contact, holding reunions every two years. Each one that I have attended has given me more clarity about my ancestors' hardships and joys, thanks to the many stories that are shared. Since my Dad passed away in 2005, I seek and hold on to these nuggets of history as if they were gold. Truth-be-told, they are gold to me.
Three incredible teachers have blessed my life in the past sixteen years; my daughters, Becky, Allyson and Katelyn, have, each in their unique fashion, taught me the importance of tradition, shared memories and stories.
Before forming Extraordinary Lives, I spent over 20 years in the survey research industry. What I enjoyed most about my work was the fundamental nature of research-a relentless focus on learning about people and how they think and act. The focus on asking questions, along with writing and deploying new technologies, were great training for helping people with their memoirs.
My husband Lynn brings his own history and stories into our world; we married in 2000 and have enjoyed melding our two families and lives into one.We are good complements; he is an outgoing people-person with a great eye for art and photography. 
I'm more a bookworm and technology-freak by nature, who loves conversation in a relaxed, one-on-one setting.
Among with saving life stories, our passions include hiking, camping, travel and time with our family. I am an avid reader and Lynn enjoys home improvement projects. I am also the Coordinator for the Great Lakes region of the Association of Personal Historians.
Together, Lynn and I are happy to be right here, ready to help you with your memoir book, video, recording or memory book.
Mary Ann Mayers
Wishing you the best of what life has to offer,
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