We asked readers to tell us a story about their history with the Observer. Your history and ours are intertwined with pieces of newsprint tucked into your photo albums and scrapbooks. Your stories make our news and our history richer.

You shared how a photo or a mention in the newspaper made a difference in your lives, sometimes even inspired a change, while others just reminded us that we're part of your daily routine. We thank you for that. Some of you had recollections from our afternoon sister newspaper, The Charlotte News, which merged with the Observer in 1983 and closed in 1985. We are the keeper of the News archive and, in a way, its memories. Some of those Charlotte News moments are recalled here.

Thank you again for sharing your stories. -- Cheryl Carpenter

There's no way to know which paper this came out of (the Charlotte News or the Observer), but I won a poetry contest at the N.C. Library Association convention. It was for students all over North Carolina. I would have been 17, a junior at Harding High School. I kept it in an album of old photos ever since. I got to thinking, I still have that picture. I got out my old albums and found it. I looked at the picture and thought I can't remember looking like that. ... It brought back memories of some happy times. That was the year I met my husband in high school. And now, we're almost ready to celebrate our 60th anniversary. -- Leslie Simmons

My mother (Dianne Kahler) and her sister (Carol) were married one day apart, but they were in the paper having a double wedding in 1955. The Observer just made this big thing that they were getting married together. Whoever wrote up their wedding just got this idea in her head. They thought it was funny. My mother and dad's 56th wedding anniversary is coming up. -- Mandy Perry Hutton, Matthews

My father was a police officer in the late 1930s and he was helping a little girl across the street when you took his photo. He was in the paper another time for saving $2 bills. He saved 139 $2 bills to buy a war bond. ... He saved 603 $2 bills to buy a new car. These bring back memories of him. .... I carry a $2 bill in my wallet now just because. ... -- Marsha Chisum, Mint Hill

I'm always cutting out stuff to share. I've kept articles over the years that have touched me. We bought our first home in 1966 in Charlotte. I decided to stay home after my child was born. ... At that time, the newspaper was my adult connection to the world.

An article that I've used time and time again was written by (former editorial page editor) Ed Williams. He wrote: Are you going the way you want to in life? When I do my devotions, I ask people those questions. I have a tin full of articles like that from Ken Garfield, Kays Gary, Dot Jackson, Tommy Tomlinson, Ina Hughes. Some articles just cause me to think and some cause me to respond. The Observer has helped me fill my appetite for learning. -- Sylvia Goins, Davidson

My earliest memories are of having daddy or mommy read the funny pages to my little brother and me. We didn't call it the comics then. I've read it except when I served in the war with the American Red Cross. It has been a part of my daily routine for these 65 years. I must say that now, at the age of 92, one of the most exciting events of every day is successfully completing the Wuzzle, the Jumble and the Crossword. The Charlotte Observer also keeps me abreast of what's going on in the world. -- Alice Tucker, Pageland, S.C.

I'm going to give my sons and family each article (I've saved). I'm going to give them a book that they can look through with my grandchildren. ... I have three grandsons and one granddaughter. They need to read about all of this, see what their parents did and grandparents did. And when I look back and it's something about the work that I did, I know how much I loved my work and how much I learned from people with Alzheimer's. I was the executive director of the Adult Care and Share Center. I just love to read the paper. -- Theo Couchell Robinson

I have framed a picture of myself on the cover of the Observer. I was 17. It was a significant moment as the Charlotte Hornets were being introduced and celebrated at Eastland Mall.

Rex Chapman was there with all the significant others. The photographer noticed me on top of my friend's shoulders cheering on the Hornets! I was awakened that morning by my Mom saying, "Get up, get up, you are in the newspaper." Of course when I got to school all my friends were talking about it; I felt pretty cool. The effect it brings back when I look at it now ... well a lot of special high school memories and, gee, how young I look. Time has flown by.

I felt a special honor to be on the front page of our local newspaper; you just don't get to do that every day. -- Jennifer S. Farnsworth

I got married when I was 14, and my husband got us an apartment and started getting the Observer and the News. It was 61 years ago, and we lived in Double Oaks. I start at the front now and read it all over every day. I'm just nosy, and I'm old now. I have nothing to do but read. I call some of my friends, and they call me, and we talk about the paper. -- Rosa Simmons

We've been subscribers for almost 59 years now. My husband is the main reader. I always cook breakfast early, about 5 a.m. He reads it and then tells me what stories I should read. Oh my goodness, if he doesn't get it, he's grumpy all day. -- Dorothy Case

My mother, Elizabeth Goodman Klein, 85, was born in Charlotte. Her mother, Katherine Goodman, collected World War II copies of the Observer (and Charlotte News). Her son was in the Navy and she wanted to save them for him. I discovered them as a kid in the attic, and I had some framed and hanging in my house ... Now I gave some to my grandson. ... Elizabeth and Walter Klein's great-grandchildren are now reading the Observer, making them fifth-generation readers. -- Richard Klein

A lot of people don’t know me by my name, only as The Brick Man. To this day, I can go somewhere and everybody recognizes me. I’ve been in the paper every decade since the 1970s. I had seats behind the goal (starting when the Hornets played in the old Coliseum) and I held up the brick when the other team shot. Whenever someone saw me in the paper, they would cut out my photo and give it to me. Even Paul Silas (the Bobcats coach) knows me as The Brick Man. -- Howard Davenport

My husband and I are fourth-generation Charlotteans. I have the front page of Friday, July 10, 1959, showing a huge chemical fire on South Boulevard. The day of that big fire my dad and a policeman carried a badly burned firefighter on a stretcher. My dad didn’t know he was being photographed. He owned the Shell service station on South Boulevard. Several months after that, they were at Charlottetown mall. There was Dad’s big photo on the wall and it had won a prize. My dad, William Robert Manus, died eight years ago. The photo brings pride to my heart. -- Sarah Haston

It was the winter of 1970. My brother and I were teenagers, and we grew up skating down at the old Coliseum. We tried to create hockey rinks in the back yard. Never happened. That winter, the lake at Freedom Park froze, and we begged our dad to take us there.

We put on our skates and got out on that lake. Few people ever ice-skated on Freedom Park lake. I guess one of the neighbors called. The police showed up and said it wasn’t illegal, they just wanted to make sure we were safe. Then a photographer showed up. We had our picture in The Charlotte News the next day.

It’s just been one of those things we’ve always enjoyed; kind of memorialized skating on the lake. And we had our dad with us. -- Doug Whitley

I have a picture that ran in the front section of the Observer in 1942. It’s a really cute picture. It says: “When the Garry O. Biggers family starts for a jaunt, here’s how they look.” We’re on a bicycle. I was 21/2 then, and we lived on Chesterfield Avenue in the Chantilly neighborhood. I remember the tires on the bike were so big that they were whitewalls. The chains came off all the time. We rode so many places, but it was a different Charlotte then. -- Ann Ellington

I will never, ever forget what happened when my photo was in the Observer. It was a few days before the Democratic Convention of 2000. The Observer wrote an article about my collection of memorabilia centered around Socks the cat, or Bill Clinton’s cat. My collection of Socks memorabilia was the largest in the world.

Apparently, the story was interesting enough to be picked up by the Associated Press. I did an interview with an Illinois radio station. I was featured in my company’s newsletter. I was the front-page story for Cat Collector’s newsletter. I was featured in my husband’s hometown newspaper. Then, I was approached to do an interview on “As it Happens” on the Canadian Broadcasting Network. ... I received a call from CNN. But it did not stop there. People magazine did an article that included a photo of me and my daughter Caroline. The grand finale was when I received a call from the White House. Hillary Clinton invited me and my family to the White House for a private tour and a chance to meet Socks. It was the most wonderful trip. We were taken all around the White House during the Christmas season of 2000. The decorations were beautiful and we got to play with Socks and hold him and take lots of photos.

This whole experience is one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and it all started by a photo in the Charlotte Observer. -- Sandi Langdon

Years ago there was skydiving going on in Charlotte near the Metrolina Expo. The Observer ran a picture on the front page of my husband (Ray) with the first American world skydiving champion, Jim Arender. It just shows the value of doing what you love to do and maintaining a happy life. It’s just a piece of paper, but it’s valuable. It was a happy time. You can keep those things in your memory; if you’ve got a picture to look at them, it jumps back at you. You relive it. We’ve read the Observer 50 years. We have it delivered every day. -- Joy Lefler, Huntersville

I was in the ninth grade at Harding High in 1957, and began reading the Observer in my civics class and have read it ever since. After the death of my two sons, which made the headlines in the local section in Oct. 27, 1990, I began reading it to see all the young people who died in it.

I have written over the years articles about parents providing alcohol to teens and several brief articles for the opinion page. It seems like the death of my only two sons brought out my voice in your newspaper. One time, your paper did an article showing some of my obituaries. I started collecting obituaries in 1991 of infants, children and young adults under the age of 35 who have died in Mecklenburg County. I now have 17 albums and most of them, especially the teens up to 35, die from choices they made. In 1994, we started a Choices program to save the lives of young people and have spoken to over 25,000 teens, and including those convicted of DWI since then. So as you can see, after my sons’ death, your paper became more important in my research. -- Jerry (Geraldine) Jonas Mudge

The Observer carrier boys were very organized. They sponsored a carriers’ basketball league. I played for the Dilworth team. In that particular year when I was in the ninth grade, I got the best sportsmanship trophy. I started carrying the Observer when I was 12 years old, and I started reading it when I was 12. I’m 76 now. ... I used to run my Observer route to get in shape for boxing at high school. But then, I started saying to myself, maybe I should do the mile run in track. You could say my running career started with the Observer. -- Jim Beatty, member of the 1960 Olympic team