'When my mum died, she left me something unexpected. Now it's my most valuable possession.'

Driving in a car with her music on shuffle, Carla Lidbury felt a wave of nostalgia as a familiar tune began to play. It wasn't a song. It was the voice of her mum, Linda, telling stories.

Through the speakers Carla heard the melody of Linda's storytelling, pierced with laughter and witty quips. It was just as though her mum was sitting beside her. But the two had not shared a car ride for years. Carla's mum had passed away five years ago. 

"It's bizarre to try and hear in your mind, the voice of someone who's gone," Carla said. "But as soon as I play mum's audio story, I think 'Oh, of course, that's what she sounds like'. It brings her right back. It's like she's there with me. I wasn't losing all of her."

Back in 2001, Linda was first diagnosed with stage four melanoma. "She was told nothing could be done," Carla recalled. Yet, after seeking a second opinion, Linda underwent chemotherapy to treat the cancer, which, thankfully, worked.

Watch: How To Deal With Loss Or Grief Of Love Ones. Post continues after video.

"She got a second opinion and was one of the lucky ones that chemotherapy worked," Carla said.

But twenty years later, in April 2020, Linda was told the devastating news that she had cancer for the second time. Doctors had a grim outlook about Linda's chance of survival, but the 72-year-old was determined to fight.

"Mum was a strong woman, she tried chemotherapy… we thought 'she's done it before, she can do it again'," Carla said. "But it wasn't good from the beginning."

Struggling with the thought of losing her mum — "I used to call her my Life Instruction Manual" — Carla felt a need to preserve Linda's life. She organised for a professional audio service, A Lasting Tale, to record her mother's stories into podcast episodes.

"Once someone dies, there's so much knowledge and memories that go with them," Carla said. "By recording her life story, I felt like I was keeping some of mum. I wasn't losing all of her. I was holding onto a piece of mum."

Only days after her mother's diagnosis, Carly called up her good friend — Dimity Brassil, the founder of A Lasting Tale.

"I am so lucky I knew her. As soon as mum was unwell, I knew straight away it was something I wanted to do," Carla said.

At home with a cup of tea, Linda sat across from Dimity and recalled, in vivid detail, her life stories. She spoke about growing up in the NSW outback and raising two daughters in her beloved Broken Hill. 

"Mum always said she had 'red dirt in her veins'," Carla said.

Linda shared her grief over losing her parents and spoke with animation retelling stories of travel and her career with the NSW National Wildlife and Parks Service.

Founder of A Lasting Tale, Dimity, interviewing her mum, Anne. Image: Supplied.

Three months after Dimity hit the stop button on the recording, Linda passed away. Carla didn't listen to the audio immediately, but when she did, she couldn't stop the tears from falling.

"I cried and I laughed," Carla said. "Listening to it brings mum straight back into the room. It's the most valuable thing I own. Mum was so intelligent and such a good storyteller. It's like watching the story as she tells it."

Linda's voice not only gives comfort to her family, it offers a historical snapshot of life in outback Australia, and pictures family members for future generations.

"It captures moments in time. I loved my childhood in Broken Hill. It's part of the reason I love listening to it, it takes me back," Carla said. "Mum talks about her grandmother's gardens and mentions Zinnias. So, I'm going to go buy Zinnia seeds today. The audio gives me ways to keep connecting to mum."

A Lasting Tale's owner, Dimity, agrees; a voice has great power. "The voice of a person is tied up to the love we have for them…every voice is unique, it can't be replaced," Dimity said. 

In 2011, Dimity's world fell apart when she lost her father, Pat, and sister, Belinda, within months of each other. Out of her grief, her business idea was born; to capture the wisdom and reflections of loved ones before they're gone forever.

"When my sister died… I thought about her daughter, she would forget the sound of Belinda's voice and the stories she had to tell," Dimity said.

In 2018, Dimity launched A Lasting Tale after interviewing her mother, Anne, about life in regional NSW, raising nine children and her inspiring community work. Now she has 40 journalists around the country turning treasured stories of everyday Australians into keepsakes.

Everyone has a story. Sharing your life can be daunting, but for Linda the process was "therapeutic". 

"I know she felt like she had a life well-lived, and a story worth telling," Carla said.

This isn't the case for all clients of A Lasting Tale. Often, people feel bewildered that their family want their life story recorded.

"People I interview think they don't have anything of worth to say," Dimity explained. "I always say, 'everybody has one person who cares about their story'.

"We're not all Taylor Swift, or Winston Churchill, we don't have famous stories, that doesn't mean one person doesn't take value from your story. Your humble life, your life achievements, are important. Somebody wants to hear it, and they love you and value your stories."

A Lasting Tale's premium audio recording service includes a sit-down face-to-face interview produced into podcast episodes. Alternatively, families can use a do-it-yourself downloadable questionnaire. Find out more at https://www.alastingtale.com/.

Feature Image: Supplied.