I'm not sure how to explain.
First and foremost, I'm the child with the most knowledge of my ancestors. This isn't by choice, I live nearest to where my parents grew up (four hours) and have been caught in the crossfire between my aunt and my mother. I've heard both their stories and their accounts of growing up and have really seen they lived through. Their childhood was not pleasant. My grandfather was a sick man and my grandmother was a very selfish woman who didn't really love her kids. The only love my aunt and mother got was from their Aunt
June and their grandmother,
Hulda. It's very rare that I hear my mother speak of any of her relatives with love and respect - most of the time she refuses to even talk about them. But with
Hulda she has a deep love and respect for her. That and the fact that I've really gotten to know
Hulda through what she wrote and the stories she told has made me love her. She didn't have an easy life - she had an abusive, alcoholic husband, a son with brain damage (caused by a drunk doctor) and she lost her oldest son in WWII. Yet she managed to be this loving, amazing woman and gave my mom and her sister enough love to see them through childhood. So while I didn't know the woman personally I do see her legacy and I'm thankful for it.
Does that make any sense?