"At the five-year anniversary of the crash, we felt it was time," Foster explains. "We were far enough away that we could talk about it but we did not want to wait too long and lose anything. The biographies Bob showed us seemed to catch the essence of each family."
Robitaille says Jordan helped the sisters along as they revisited the family tragedy.
"Bob was very understanding and patient," she says. "He seemed genuinely moved by our story. He went to where my parents grew up and took footage. A lot of it was very hard to go through but it was well worth every step."
Foster says the documentary's focus on the family foundation, and the family members who were killed in the crash, was an eye-opening experience for some family members.
"My youngest child didn't know any of these people," she says.
One of the most touching parts of the documentary is a segment showing her father giving a eulogy at his mother's funeral.
"I didn't even know that video existed and it was the first time since the crash that I had heard my father's voice," Robitaille says.
The Miniat family in Chicago decided to make a movie to preserve the history of the family meat-packing business and to delve into what drove the founders to succeed and what their philosophies of life, business and community were.
Chuck Nolan is a fourth-generation member of the family business and is an in-law, married to a Miniat. He hopes the biography, which is still in production, will be a cherished item to members of future generations that join the family business, as well as those who pursue different careers.
"Michael Miniat was a Lithuanian immigrant who came here about 1894, began buying meat at the stockyards and peddling it by horse and wagon to the neighborhoods," Nolan says. "The business has now changed several times over the years and is now operated by the fourth generation, but we wanted future generations to have an understanding of how the business was built."
The biographies are divided into chapters. If there are many people involved, each chapter may focus on a different branch of the family. The segmented format is also designed to make the final documentary more useful to the family. For example, the Miniat family will be able to run selected chapters of the documentary on its company Web site.
Each of the biographies is produced using digital high-definition video equipment, according to Jordan, who writes and narrates the stories. Some families keep Jordan on retainer to update the biographies periodically as the family, business or foundation grows.