Samuel Black and Edda Fields-Black

Samuel Black talks to his wife Edda Fields-Black about his father who worked 16-hour days operating the boiler room of a high school to ensure that the pipes did not freeze. “Working all those hours, he didn’t have time to discuss things. You had to get it right that time and that time only.” A stern disciplinarian, his father only had to look at his sons and they knew what he was thinking.

Originally aired September 29, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Karen Washabau and Dave Washabau

Karen Washabau tells her husband, Dave, about Aunt Meff. Karen wrote letters to Aunt Meff when she was younger, and when Aunt Meff died, Karen found hundreds of her letters stashed in the back of a cupboard when cleaning out her house.

Originally aired August 18, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

John Bancroft and Carolyn Bancroft

Dr. John Bancroft discusses one of his more memorable patients with his 10-year-old daughter Carolyn. The patient, a little girl whose condition was dire due to a sudden onset of liver failure, needed an organ transplant. A donor could not be located and when she died her family asked that her organs be offered for donation so that others could have an improved chance at life.

Originally aired July 28, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Ronin Su and Ada Chan

Ronin Su tells his girlfriend, Ada Chan, about his uncle, Jae Sang Kim. Jae had dreams of being an artist when he came to the United States from Korea, but became the owner of a grocery store where he was shot in the back and killed during a robbery.

Originally aired June 8, 2006 on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Hee-Sook and Joyce Kim Lee

Joyce Kim Lee talks with her mother, Hee-sook Lee, about Korean culture and how her parent’s displays of affection for each other are not considered the norm.

Originally aired March 10, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Blanca Alvarez and Connie Alvarez

Blanca Alvarez immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1972. She crossed the border with her husband and son while she was pregnant with her daughter, Connie. When they arrived in the U.S., she and her husband worked hard to support their family.

Connie, now 33, came to StoryCorps with her mother to ask her about those early years.

Watch “The Icing on the Cake,” our animated short of Blanca’s story.

Originally aired March 3, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Shasti O’Leary-Soudant and Jethro Soudant

Jethro Soudant talks with his wife, Shasti O’Leary-Soudant, about her fight with Hodgkin’s disease. In what was “the happiest and the worst day” of her life, as the disease and treatment made her sick, she recalls that a joke Jethro told her made it all seem better.

Originally aired February 17, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Kristi Hager and Cherie Newman

Kristi Hager (left) remembers her mother who had recently died.

She tells her friend Cherie Newman about a time when she was 9 years old and studying for her lifeguard exam when one of the questions on the test left them both in a fit of laughter.

Originally aired on February 3, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Kim Emerson and Gladys Chen

Kim Emerson tells her friend Gladys Chen about the day Kim’s sister, Kendra Webdale, was killed when a mentally ill man pushed her in front of an oncoming New York City subway train.

Originally aired January 6, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Barb Fuller-Curry and Craig Curry

Barb Fuller-Curry talks with her son Craig Curry about growing up on a farm where her father and mother worked in the fields to make ends meet.

Barb recalls the sacrifices her parents made, and how little she thought about it when she was a child.

Originally aired December 16, 2005, on NPR’s Morning Edition.