José started college at the University of Puerto Rico, but he decided to come to the United States to pursue a degree in journalism. He ended up at Antioch College in Ohio. José was excited to come to the United States, and thought he had many advantages: “I came armed for success in a sense that I already knew how to speak English and I knew a lot about United States history and culture. I was a baseball fan. I knew about music.”

José remembered his first day at Antioch:

I was having lunch and an African American called me the “n-word.” And I said, “Why are you calling me that?” And he said to me that I didn’t look Puerto Rican.

And I said, “What’s a Puerto Rican supposed to look like?” He said, “Well, they don’t look like you.”

That was my first day on campus, and I thought, “What was that?” On a very progressive, liberal university campus, that was the last thing I expected.

Within a week, I went through a series of shocks having to do with race, language, and culture. I realized that I knew more about the United States than the United States knew about me. And it was the moment that I decided that maybe my role was to be an educator.

After Antioch, José moved to Boston and taught at Copley Square High School. He also pursued his passion for communications and music by starting a radio show on WBUR called ¡Con Salsa! with José Massó. More than 34 years later, José still hosts ¡Con Salsa! and has devoted his life to education, communications, music, and politics.

José’s interview was recorded in partnership with the Latino Professional Network.

“My parents moved [to Brookland] in 1946 and got the house on the G.I. Bill. And the blessing that I am showed up in 1947,” said David. His younger brother, Eric, quickly added, “And they improved it in 1951 when I showed up!”

Eric remembered Brookland as a diverse, middle-class neighborhood that was a great place to grow up. “Every house on the block had two or three kids, if not more, so you had plenty of playmates. You could just go from house to house all day long until the street lights came on and it was time to go home.”

“The most valuable commodity Brookland had was its children. The whole community knew we were going to go places that the black community had never gone before,” said David. “They nurtured us and made sure we were prepared to step out. A lot of the dignitaries of the world were our neighbors.” Prominent former Brookland residents include professor and Nobelist, Ralph Bunche, HUD Secretary and Ambassador, Pat Harris, as well as singer and actress Pearl Bailey.

At the end of the interview, David reflected on some of the lessons he learned from growing up in Brookland. In a recent argument, a white colleague told David, “You know what your problem is, you don’t know you’re black.” To David, that wasn’t a problem, “That’s what I got from living in Brookland…I am who I am. As far as me shuffling and bowing my head, that is just not going to happen.”

David and Eric’s interview was recorded in partnership with the Black Women Playwright’s Group.

Sharon Capra came to remember her son, Tony Capra, who was killed by an improvised explosive device on April 9, 2008, in Iraq. Tony was the oldest of twelve siblings and always loved being the big brother. His father was in the military and traveled a lot, so Tony got to play the role of man of the house.

Sharon remembered when Tony was ten years old and her purse was stolen from a restaurant. “He immediately charged after the person who was running with my purse…so the owner of the restaurant ran out and chased him down and brought him back. You know, he just thought, ‘I just need to get back that purse,’ so off he ran. So many times, he surprised us by his actions.”

Tony was a brother and son, but also a husband and father. At the end of her interview, Sharon shared how she hopes his family will remember Tony:

I want his family to remember Tony with a smile. I mean, he was a character and he was a person that we can be proud to have known… It’s a responsibility that we have when we come into this earth to love each other and to help each other, and whatever level that you can do that, if it’s just through a smile or a handshake or to reach out, that it’s very important that life is more than just about you, and I think my son showed that through his life and through his death.

Tony Capra is buried in Section 60 of Arlington Cemetery, the burial ground dedicated to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. The day of our recordings was also the second anniversary of the death of Maria Ortiz. She was the first Army nurse to die in service since the Vietnam War. Her family, friends, and fellow servicemen and women, honored Maria with a memorial service at her grave. Maria’s fiance and twin sister spoke of her familial love and affection. Fellow nurses and soldiers who were with Maria when she died stood by and listened with heavy hearts as tears fell from these undoubtedly strong men and women.

It was an honor to attend Captain Ortiz’s memorial and to record stories remembering these brave soldiers who lost their lives.

Marcia told her daughter, Sabrina, about her most memorable childhood home at the Fergus Falls State Hospital in Fergus Falls, MN. In 1954, when Marcia was 5 years old, her father was hired as the chief clinical psychologist and housing at the hospital was provided with the job.

Fergus Falls State Hospital (courtesy KirkbrideBuildings.com)

Playdates at the hospital were infrequent because Marcia’s friends’ parents “weren’t too keen on having their kids come up and play.” So instead of other children, Marcia made friends and played with patients who lived at the hospital.

Evelyn was one of Marcia’s best friends at the hospital. She was in her 20s and they played together almost everyday. Marcia remembered: “I asked my dad why [she was] there and he would talk to me like an adult. My dad told me Evelyn was a paranoid schizophrenic.”

Marcia’s father was Evelyn’s therapist, and he told Marcia that she “probably did more therapy with her than he did. We walked and we played. She was just Evelyn….I knew that they were patients at the hospital and they couldn’t take care of themselves somewhere else, but they were just people and that was a pretty profound experience to have.”

Marcia Page and her daughter, Sabrina Bender

Even though stigma surrounded these institutions, Marcia’s memories are positive. She said the patients who lived at the hospital “had pride in taking care of their hospital and their community….The really positive thing was that they were living their lives and being productive, while being cared for. ”

Marcia and Sabrina’s interview was recorded in partnership with the San Luis Obispo County SELPA.

The Columbus Regional Hospital was hit especially hard as the usually calm Haw Creek couldn’t handle the huge amount of runoff that was flowing from the north. The entire basement and part of the first floor of the hospital was flooded.

Power, computers, and phones for the whole building were quickly knocked out. Soon after, the decision was made to evacuate the 157 patients at the hospital.

Video via YouTube

Last week, to help commemorate the one year anniversary of the flood, StoryCorps Door-to-Door recorded interviews with hospital employees who were there on the night of the flood and participated in the ongoing recovery, cleanup, and rebuilding efforts.

When David Lenart, Director of Facilities and Materials Management, arrived at the hospital, he said, “it looked like a bad movie. Six hours felt like three days.”

After the patients were taken to safety at other area hospitals, the recovery and cleanup began. Don Michael, a hospital trustee remembered: “Everyone made it up as we went along. There were disaster plans in place, but none contemplated losing the whole hospital for months.”

The hospital re-opened, after a challenging summer, on October 27, 2008. Some of the hospital facilities are still in temporary buildings, and memories of the flood are just beginning to fade, but the community and the hospital have definitely come away stronger from the experience. Nearly everyone recounted the way the disaster brought staff closer together and demonstrated what was truly possible to achieve together.

Below are the hospital employees and community leaders who shared their stories last week. You can read more about the rebuilding efforts and see photos and video on the Columbus Regional Hospital Recovery site.

Charlotte Flynn, who celebrated her 90th birthday on March 28, came in with her son Greg and talked about growing up in St. Louis and meeting her husband, Bill. After graduating from Washington University in 1941, Bill got a job working as an engineer on the Panama Canal. Three months later, Charlotte joined him in Panama. She told her son Greg about a night in Panama she will never forget :

On December 7, 1941, it was the first day that Dad had a chance to take me sightseeing in Panama. And it was about five o’clock. All the transportation were Army buses….and they all congregated at the train station. And were getting ready to go home and all the service men were just streaming out. And we said, “What’s going on?” They responded, “We don’t know. Get back to your base as soon as possible!”

So then we got back to our apartment and we didn’t know what was going on. We were just married, and we couldn’t afford a radio….Then when our neighbors came home, we found out about what happened. I was starting to fix supper, and then all the lights went out. And after a little while, they went on, stayed on for half an hour, and from then on we lived in blackout.

Every plane in the Panama Canal was up in the air. And you just heard that noise all night long, just zooming around. So it’s a night that’s well etched in my memory.

Soon after, construction on the canal stopped and Bill began working for the Army Corps on Engineers.

While we were recording at Family ElderCare, Julie Moody, a reporter from KUT, Austin’s public radio station, came to check it out. She spoke with Charlotte and Greg, as well as with Emma Long, who recorded an interview later that day. Visit the KUT website to hear more from Charlotte and Emma.