
“Della’s expertise brought my grandfather's WWII story to life. Her skills in editing, organization, and technology were invaluable in turning my manuscript into a beautiful, printed book.”
~ Broc Bryson
I was so glad to have found Della and I will be eternally grateful for her critical help in putting together a book about my Grandfather’s efforts in WWII. My Grandfather served in the Army Infantry Italy in 1944 & 45. I had researched and put together a manuscript of his efforts well in advance of my meeting Della, and had put a great deal of effort into it. I was waiting to find someone that could help me edit, organize, create maps, take pictures and in every way oversee the printing of the book.
With Della’s help we were able to get this story printed in ink as well as in several electronic formats. Outside of raising my kids, I cannot think of another project that has been so rewarding and deeply fulfilling. Della was so very instrumental in using her skills and technology to bring this book to life. I 100% recommend her for any efforts related to family history, editing or publishing. She clearly has a passion for the work and her abilities reflect her deep commitment to it.

“Della created the most beautiful tribute to our mother—a precious lifetime memory our entire family will treasure.”
~ Elizabeth Anderson
Della is amazing to work with! She is very talented, concise and professional. She will communicate with you clearly and precisely to get the finished product completed.
Della was able to put together the most beautiful life history and tribute of my mother. She showed patience and professionalism working with four siblings—all with different personalities and demands.
I also had her scan many precious historical photos in which she was able to retouch and improve the quality. She not only gave us high quality scans of our photos and family history’s but created a wonderful table of contents for the ease of finding things.
I would definitely recommend Della and Legacy Autobiography. Our entire family is very happy with the end product of a precious lifetime memory for all to enjoy for years to come.

“When I read the book for the first time, the tears were flowing. I got my beautiful mother back.”
~ Barbara Robbins Boud
Oh my goodness! I don’t know where to begin. Working with Della on this project has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Her attention to detail and organization is incredible. Our family commissioned her to assist us in putting together my mother’s life history. We didn’t even know where to begin, but Della guided the project from beginning to end. She kept us informed about style, layout, design and came up with a book that is such a beautiful rendition of my mother’s life. She is like Sherlock Holmes in sleuthing out the story and timeline. She even went so far as obtaining permission from the Utah Historical Society website to use their photographs of “Keeleys”, the candy shop my grandparents ran during my mother’s childhood. She obtained pictures from cousins and relatives about my mom’s childhood, teenage years, high school, and college that I had never even seen before. She spent days going through journals, letters, and boxes of material that she scanned for the book. Many of the pictures were damaged, but Della restored them beautifully and did such a professional job that you would never know. She put over 300 hours of work into this book for us.
Her attention to color and design is impeccable. There is not one mistake in this book that I can find. We received the book just before Christmas and were able to send it out to the whole family for a special Christmas present. This book truly is a gift that my family, my children, and grandchildren will treasure always. It turned out so beautifully that there were cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends that all wanted a copy. We ended up ordering over 100 books!
When I read the book for the first time, the tears were flowing. I got my beautiful mother back and was able to learn things about her life that I never even knew. The book turned out to be a masterpiece!
I want to thank Della from the bottom of my heart for the hundreds of hours she spent on this project and for preserving my mother’s memories. You cannot put a price on that; this project was worth every penny. I highly recommend Family Tree Books!

“Della helped us create a miracle. She embraced our vision and brought it to life with creativity, care, and professionalism.”
~ Michael Boud
For many years I had spent countless hours on a project on the life of my mother that more recently had been quite dormant due to my lack of knowledge and skills in layout and design and my insistence that the book could not be anything but stunning. Last year, Della Hilton was introduced to this incomplete project of mine. What unfolded was truly remarkable.
Della embraced my vision wholeheartedly. From our very first meeting, she was open, encouraging, and incredibly responsive to even the most specific requests. The result was a beautiful layout and design with simple but attractive motifs, colors, and themes that were very fitting for my mother and which my family members loved.
She went out of her way to accommodate my requests and was proactive. Especially during the last month or two, there were often details and items I would come across or think of that needed to be added, corrected, or enhanced. She was willing to make these modifications, even though the layout/design of every page had to be realigned whenever something was changed. She was willing and happy to do so to the very end. At times she even proactively made changes that were based on the same requests I had previously made.
Della envisioned more. A few of my siblings and I worked closely with her for several months on a Life Sketch, or a short biography of our mother. She had thought of this idea as an additional segment of the project. It turned out beautifully with not only some great chapters, but the accompanying photos and memorabilia also turned out fantastic. Della did a very professional job of enhancing these photos. The addition of the life sketch made the book a masterpiece. Della had great foresight on how beautiful the project could become.
Della was very organized throughout this whole process and knew exactly what milestones had to be reached and by what dates. It was amazing that we were able to get everything done to produce a beautiful product and submit it to the publisher more than a week before Thanksgiving, enabling us to receive the book back to mail out to family members in time for Christmas.
Despite juggling other clients and family life, Della was able to help us create a miracle. She put her heart into the project, and it was evident she gained a love for our mother throughout the process. I am very grateful for Della’s hard work and dedication in helping make our mother’s beautiful book a reality.

“Della turned something good into a masterpiece. Her attention to detail, thoughtful design, and care made our mother’s life story unforgettable. The whole family was deeply moved.”
~ Jim and Linda Boud
Several siblings and I hired Della Hilton, founder of Legacy Autobiography, to do the layout and design of a book on our deceased mother’s life. The book contains tributes by our mother’s siblings, friends, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and others. We also had about 350 pictures from the time our mother was a toddler to shortly before her death at age 89 that were to be part of the book.
Della took our information, did a life sketch from my mother’s diary, was able to make the pictures look fabulous, worked with us to identify each person in each picture so that would be set forth, divided the book into segments of our mother’s life, added a table of contents, a section on our mother’s favorite recipes, and produced a priceless legacy and masterpiece that will speak to our mother’s posterity for generations to come. It turned out simply fabulous! She was easy to work with and made many suggestions, which she passed by a few of us who were giving her input.
We sent out one section of the book in an email before determining how many orders to place. Everyone in our large family ordered books for themselves, children, and grandchildren. Cousins and other relatives ordered a copy. We ordered 103 copies including the 5 extra I ordered. I now realize I should have ordered 20 extra.
When the shipment came to my house for distribution to everyone, I opened the first box and pulled out one of the hardcover books with a beautiful picture on the cover of my deceased mother. I began to go through it but could not get very far because I began to sob uncontrollably. Della is a real professional and cared about every detail of the project. I highly recommend her for projects like this one or any project dealing with a lot of pictures and text where her layout and design will turn something good into a masterpiece. The cost was very reasonable.

“Della brought my mother and grandfather back to life through her digitizing work. The video of my mom and the audio of my grandpa are treasures that I now get to experience every day. This is priceless, and I’d pay 10 times what it cost for these memories.”
~ Ozark Bob
Oh my heck, I just don’t even know where to begin.
On the old 8mm home movies from 1962, nothing could have prepared me for viewing them after Della sent me the digitized versions. I should have gotten a box of Kleenex or roll of paper towels before I started. I have very few possessions that belonged to my mother but I do have 80–100 photos. But they still didn’t prepare me for seeing her in video. All of a sudden there she was, in full life again, dancing and clowning around for the camera as she was hanging clothes in the back yard. Before I knew it I was bawling like a baby, sobbing uncontrollably to see my mother again. I thought how much she looked like my youngest daughter, and then realized that she was 24 in the video, the same age as my daughter now. Wow. There were more scenes of my family, my father, sisters, and my grandmother. I texted some screen shots to my two sisters and then we were all crying. I hadn’t realized until that moment that photos are wonderful snapshots of the past but they don’t convey personality. Thanks to these 8mm home movies that you were able to digitize for me, my mother lives again, my great-grandparents, and others who I haven’t seen in decades who I never expected to see again in this life. It was an experience I can’t begin to explain, but thank you so much!! I’m bawling all over again, darn it, please send a box of Kleenex out with these things!
The second thing Della did was digitize my grandfather’s life story for me. I recorded him way back in 1984 and I was certain the cassette tapes had long passed their prime and was pretty sure they would be too muddled to even hear anything. But Della worked some magic and sent me back everything in digitized form and it sounds as good as it did the day I recorded him! I wrote his history from those tapes but reading the written word is nothing like listening to him. Somebody asked me once who I would like to spend an hour with if I could pick anybody in the history of the world. There are a lot of people on that list but if I could only pick one, it would be my grandpa. He was one of the most influential people in my life and now thanks to you, I can listen to him tell his stories while I sit at my computer doing my daily tasks. It’s like he’s right here with me and we’re spending the day together. (Darn it, where’s that Kleenex!)
If anyone out there is hesitating spending the money, I can promise that you won’t regret it. I’m on a shoestring budget right at the moment but knowing what I know now, if I had to sell a kidney to get my mother on video and my grandpa with me here every day as I work, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d gladly spend 10 times what it cost to get these 8mm home movies and old cassette tapes digitized now that I have them and see what they mean to me in digitized form. I’ve shared them with other family members and we’ve all rejoiced in what this has brought to our lives.
Thank you again Family Tree Books!