OXFORD – Vicky House’s purpose as Oxford Historian will be to safeguard, preserve and continue the work of her predecessor, Charlotte Stafford. According to House, who was appointed as Stafford’s successor by both the village and town of Oxford following her death early this year, it was all part of the lady historian’s plan.

“This was something Charlotte wanted and hoped for ... to make her dream and vision become a reality,” she explained.

House said she originally had reservations about stepping into the shoes of the woman to whom she was friend and caregiver for so many years. But that was before, prior to her death, Stafford herself explained her reasoning. House said Stafford told her that she recognized the same interest, desire, drive and determination she herself had when she’d taken on the historian role more than three decades ago. But she also said House had something she didn’t, and that was the ability to use technology to continue her work.

“I do have the love and interest,” acknowledged House. She explained that her passion for compiling family histories, a large part of her role as historian, started when she was just 12 years old, and began learning more about her only family’s past.

“That’s where the interest was really sparked for me,” she said, recalling how she often sat with her grandparents and great-grandparents listening to their tales of by-gone eras.