Door-to-Door Facilitators Carolina Correa (c) and Matt Herman (r) with Margaret Selakovich

At the beginning of November, co-Facilitator Matt Herman and I went to Geneva, IL, to visit the Geneva History Center.

Located in the heart of Geneva’s downtown district, the Center’s mission is to collect, preserve, study, interpret and exhibit significant materials relating to the Midwestern city’s community and to provide related educational and advocacy services to the public.

To celebrate the city’s 175th anniversary, StoryCorps was called to record twenty-four interviews with long-time Geneva residents. Participants shared their memories of the town, their heritage, and their work in education, business, and volunteerism.

Marline Krug (r) and Margaret Selakovich

Margaret Selakovich, who planned and organized StoryCorps’ visit, interviewed her friend Marline Krug. The women discussed Marline’s work as a fourth grade teacher at Western Avenue School and her love for the city of Geneva. Combining her passion for teaching with an appreciation for local history, Marline came to the Geneva History Center as a volunteer.

StoryCorps thanks Margaret, Marline and all who participated for passing on the stories that make Geneva, IL, a source of community pride!

MOSI’s core ideology is to make a difference in people’s lives by making science real for people of all ages and backgrounds. During our visit to MOSI, we recorded interviews with people that share their love and passion for science with all the museum’s visitors.

Julie Fooshee & Hadley Andersen

Julie Fooshee (L) and Hadley Andersen (R) took time out of their very busy day to sit down and discuss their research and work at MOSI. They have amazing jobs. Known throughout the MOSI organization as “interactors,” Julie and Hadley spend a lot of their time in and around the museum’s 450 exhibits. Julie describes an interactor as “…a little bit of everything. They play, they teach…they are tour guides. Everything.” Interactors are the people that make the exhibits and the information come alive for the patrons.

Jason Allgair & John Satterwhite

Jason Allgair (L) and John Satterwhite (R) are two of MOSI’s guest services representatives. John is living with cerebral palsy and has welcomed, helped, and guided visitors of the museum for the last 13 years. During the conversation, John shared some of his favorite memories about working at MOSI and helping visitors of the museum: “It’s scary at times, but I keep in mind that I am a teacher and they will learn to talk to people with disabilities.”

Everyday, Julie, Hadley, Jason, John, and a team of enthusiastic staff, bring science to life for thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds. We thank them for sharing their stories (and their exhibits!) with StoryCorps.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is our second collaboration with MoMA, and you can read about StoryCorps’ last visit to the museum in the post, “Meet StoryCorps at MoMA.” This year we recorded seven interviews at the Museum using StoryKits, our most portable form of recording equipment, and a very popular service for many of our Memory Loss Initiative participants. All of the interviews were recorded simultaneously throughout the museum while the other activities were under way. Sisters, mothers and sons, husbands and wives – all came together to share their unique stories and to bask in the world of art.

To learn more about our Memory Loss Initiative, visit www.storycorps.org/initiatives/mli.
To learn more about Meet me at MoMA, visit http://www.moma.org/meetme/index

Our partner, the Great River Regional Library, is a group of thirty-two branch libraries that provide books, materials, computers, programming and information services to almost 450,000 residents. The branch libraries are a source of knowledge and information in their communities, and for March, April and May they were our host family.

In our visit to Staples, Carol Weber, 63, came with her husband Rick Weber, 64,  and her mother-in- law, Mrs. Marlys Weber, 87.  During their interview, Mrs Marlys talked about her heritage, meeting her husband and her family. Halfway into their interview, Rick and Mrs. Marlys talked about how Ernie, Marlys’ husband, started the family business. “Ernie’s Food Market” was different than most grocery stores in Staples, MN.  At that time, most grocery stores had a person that would take their order in, the order would be filled for them and the customer paid for it at the counter. Ernie started the first self service grocery store in Staples, and for a while it even provided both services.

Mrs. Marlys also described how she helped her husband stocking the store and how Ernie’s Food Market keeps growing and growing. Ernie retired and currently Ernie’s Food Market has a different owner, but it is still the town’s main grocery store and still has the neon sign to let you know who used to own it.

To learn more about The Great River Regional Library, please visit http://www.griver.org/

One of the interviews recorded was between Jennifer Jones and her mother, Mary Pletka, who shared memories of her childhood, 1970s fashion, having children, and her career in vacuum sales. The women also discussed how Mary’s diagnosis with early on-set Alzheimer’s disease affected her work and life with her family. Initially, Mary resisted the idea of a future in which her children would take care of her; she had always been the one to support them. “What I learned is don’t worry about tomorrow,” she said. “Worry about today only, and take each day one at a time.”

Sometimes, a mother’s strength of character can be seen in her personality and in the family she has raised. But sometimes, it is just by letting go and accepting the love of her family that makes a mother stronger for her family.