Why does that old box of coins mean so much to me?

I sat with a very nice lady yesterday as she told me about the coins that she had collected over the years.  She had Eisenhower silver dollars, Kennedy half dollars and lots of other silver dimes and quraters that were "old",  She hasd also purchased a gold plated silver quarter set that was in a nice wooden box from the Franklin mint that she was rather proud of.  She asked if I would like to see the collection and of course I said yes.  She had them all stored in a big plastic crate that was on the top shelf of her closet.  Once inside the plastic crate, it was evident that this collection had be cared for.  Coins were catagorized, separated and some were in nice 2x2 coin flips and neatly put in coin storage boxes.  There were coins books but most did not have coins placed in them. There was a copy of the coin redbook from 2008, and you could tell it had been used and thumbed through quite heavily.
Most of the coins in the collection did not have much value above the face value.  There was some silver dime and quarters as she previously said, and a few Liberty seated dime that did have some numismatic value.
The most intersting thing about the time spent reviewing, was that she did not care what the value was.  She was only interested in sharing the things she had collected.  You could tell that she really enjoyed her collection.  I think she saw the coins as a piece of history.  A remeberance of days gone by.  There were coins that reminded her of her youth, of her father, of fhe times that meant the most in he life.
Unfortunately, those things are specific to her, and most likely the feelings will not be reciprocated by the family member that recieves those coins as an inheritance.
The coins were not collected as an investment, or to profit in any way.  She gathered and saved coins because she thoroughly enjoyed them.
It is fun to see the passion that people have for their coins....