Finding Sanctuary at Aunt Shirley’s Farm

Tina Dietz grew up in rural North Dakota in the 1980s. Though her home life was turbulent, there was one place she felt most loved.

In 2018, she came to StoryCorps with her partner, Patrick Conteh, to remember.

Top photo: Tina Dietz and Patrick Conteh at StoryCorps in Bismarck, North Dakota. By Savannah Winchester for StoryCorps.

Bottom photo: Tina’s great aunt Shirley Krosch, who passed away in 2012. Courtesy of Tina Dietz.

Originally aired June 28th, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

A Native American Railroad Worker on His Complex Relationship with His Work

This is a story about the railroad — and it comes to us from Barnie Botone in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Botone (above right) is descended from Guipago, a Kiowa leader. In 1875, along with dozens of other Native American leaders, Guipago was taken by train and imprisoned by the U.S. Army.

Almost a century later, Botone himself went to work on the railroad. He was 22 years old at the time. At StoryCorps, he remembers the day he told his grandmother about getting the job.

Top Photo: Gordon Williams and Barnie Botone at StoryCorps in Bismarck, North Dakota. By Camila Kerwin for StoryCorps.

Bottom Photo: Gúipä’go (Lone Wolf), head chief of the Kiowa tribe in 1872. Photographer: Alexander Gardner. Courtesy Wikimedia.

Originally aired December 14, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Virginia Fairbrother and Laurel Kaae

Virginia Fairbrother tells her daughter Laurel Kaae the story of a stranger who came to her home during the Great Depression to ask her father for a favor.

Originally aired November 25, 2005, on NPR’s Morning Edition..

Monica Mayer and Spencer Wilkinson, Jr.

Physician Monica Mayer tells her friend Spencer Wilkinson, Jr., about her father’s work ethic and how he taught his daughters to take hard work seriously by having them spend a day in a field picking up rocks.

Originally aired October 7, 2005, on NPR’s Morning Edition.