StoryCorps

When Sharon Adams moved back to her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the late 1990s, she needed help with fixing her house. Initially there to do electrical work, Larry Adams found himself enamored by Sharon. The two fell in love and embarked on a new undertaking: revitalizing their neighborhood one lot at a time.

John Washington was born blind and with a severe loss of hearing that has become more extreme over time. He raised three children with his wife Fannie Ruth, who was also blind and deaf.

When Jeffrey Perri was nine years old, his grandfather, Tony Perri, came out to him as gay. At StoryCorps, grandfather and grandson share memories of their respective coming out journeys and reflect on how much they mean to each other.

It was just two days before Christmas in 1958 when John Cruitt's mother died after being seriously ill with multiple sclerosis. At the time, he was a student in Cecile Doyle's third grade class. And an act of kindness she showed him became stamped in his memory. So, more than 50 years later, he wrote her a letter.

Sue McConnell and Kristyn Weed are best friends and Vietnam-era veterans. Although they didn’t serve in the war together, they share a story of courage — on and off the battlefield. They met at a transgender veterans’ support group and became inseparable members of a powerful, enduring sisterhood.

The first-ever animated feature from StoryCorps, Listening Is an Act of Love, presents six stories from 10 years of StoryCorps, where everyday people sit down together to ask life’s important questions and share stories from their lives. Framing these intimate conversations is an interview between StoryCorps founder Dave Isay and his nine-year-old nephew, Benji.

Barb Abelhauser worked in an office for 14 years. Then one day she quit, and decided to become a bridgetender on the Ortega River Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida. She planned to work there for a year. Eight years later, she shares the moments of beauty and intimacy of her job, and why she decided to stay.

When Joseph Patton joined the Navy in 1955, he recalls serving in silence, as the LGBTQIA+ community could not be open while in the military. Despite being the “perfect sailor,” Joseph was kicked out of the Navy for being friends with gay service members, under the assumption that he was homosexual. Due to the status of his “undesirable discharge,” Joseph was unable to receive any benefits for his service in the Navy. Years later, Joseph came to StoryCorps to reflect on his journey and share his resilience, as he fought and successfully changed his status to “honorable discharge.”

Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden was born into enslavement in Black Mountain, North Carolina. She was 7 years old when she was freed. She stayed in Black Mountain and became a midwife, delivering several hundred babies including her own grandchildren. Her granddaughter, Mary Othella Burnette, came to StoryCorps with her daughter, Debora Hamilton Palmer, to honor the family matriarch. [Overview Courtesy of Storycorps]

Some sweet love stories start with chocolates and roses — but this one starts with a pet snake. Bud Jones started his taxidermy business when he was a teenager in Tallapoosa, Georgia. When Jackie and Bud went on their first date in 1954, she quickly discovered that she was in for a wild ride for love. At @StoryCorps, they shared the story of how the early adventures in their romance led to a lifelong partnership.

Patrick Haggerty grew up the son of a dairy farmer in rural Dry Creek, Washington, during the 1950s. As a teenager, Pat began to understand he was gay—something he thought he was hiding well. But one day, after performing at a school assembly, Pat learned that his father could see him much more clearly than he realized.

On the morning of September 11th, Michael Trinidad called his ex-wife, Monique Ferrer, from the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower to say goodbye. In the wake of his death, Monique tells the story of Michael's lasting legacy—the family they built together.

In 1955, John L. Black, Sr. started his job as a janitor for the Cincinnati public school system. He regularly put in 16-hour days to provide for his wife and eleven children. At StoryCorps, his son Samuel talks with his wife, Edda Fields-Black, about his father’s lasting legacy and the power of a look.

The difficulties faced by same-sex couples have created far too many stories of unrequited love. Glenda Elliott's story is one of them: Glenda came to StoryCorps to remember Lauree, the woman she fell in love with in small-town Georgia, at a time when it was difficult to imagine an acceptable path apart from marrying a man and starting a family. Though she and Lauree planned for a late-in-life reunion, fate interfered. In "A Certain Kind of Love," Glenda remembers the power of their bond.

John Vigiano Sr. is a retired New York City firefighter whose two sons followed him into service—John Jr. was a firefighter, too, and Joe was a police detective. On September 11, 2001, both Vigiano brothers responded to the call from the World Trade Center, and both were killed while saving others. Here, John Sr. remembers his sons and reflects on coping with his tremendous loss.

Jackie Miller adopted her son, Scott, in the early 1970s. In 2008, Scott brought his mom to StoryCorps to ask her about that decision.

Bryan Wilmoth is the oldest of eight children who grew up in a very strict household. Eventually, all the siblings became estranged from their parents. At StoryCorps, Bryan told his brother mike about the day their father discovered that Bryan was gay.

In 2018, at the age of 63, Dee Westenhauser came out as a transgender woman. But growing up in El Paso, Texas in the 1950s she remembers having a hard time fitting in. One weekend, her parents decided to take her to her aunt Yaya’s house. Aunt Yaya saw a kindred spirit in Dee, and gave her an opportunity that no one else would: a safe, loving space to be herself.

Barnie Botone was 22 years old when he got his very first job on the railroad. Nearly a hundred years prior, his great-great grandfather Guipago, a chief of the Kiowa Tribe of the Great Plains, was imprisoned by the U.S. Army and taken away by train during westward expansion. Botone looks back on the beauty and the tragedies on the American railroads, and the strength he needed to return day after day.

Brooklynites Danny, an OTB clerk, and Annie, a nurse, remember their life together -- from their first date to Danny's final days with terminal cancer. This remarkable couple personifies the eloquence, grace, and poetry that can be found in the voices of every day people if we take the time to listen.