John Tull and Lucinda Marker
In 2002, Lucinda Marker and her husband, John Tull, came down with the Bubonic Plague—the same bacterial infection that killed about one-third of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages.
Today, the plague is rare in the U.S., only a handful catch it each year and it’s mostly found in Southwestern states like where Lucinda and John live.
They were bitten by fleas infected with plague near their home in New Mexico, and fell ill while vacationing in New York City.
Originally aired March 22, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Louis Caplan and Harriet Caplan
Harriet and Louis Caplan’s love story began later in their lives. She was 48 and he was 56. Neither had ever been married before, but suddenly they found themselves together all the time and Louis proposed, so in 1995 they got married.
At StoryCorps, they talk about falling in love and the challenges they now face since Harriet was diagnosed with colon cancer and given a life expectancy of about two years.
Originally aired February 15, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.