Swept Away: Falling for the Man with 600 Vacuums
We love a good love story here at StoryCorps. But this one? It sucks … just not in the way you might think.
Tom Gasko has been a vacuum repairman for over 35 years. He also collects vacuums — hundreds and hundreds of them — and proudly displays them in his very own vacuum cleaner museum in a Rolla, Missouri strip mall.
He came to StoryCorps to share his love for the machines with his husband, Donnie Pedrola.
Top photo: Donnie Pedrola and Tom Gasko at their StoryCorps interview in Rolla, MI on June 26, 2019. By Dupe Oyebolu for StoryCorps.
Bottom photo: In 2001, Tom got a tattoo of the logo of his favorite vacuum cleaner, The Airway from 1935. This is the same machine he hopes to spend eternity in. Courtesy Tom Gasko.
Originally aired September 6, 2019 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“There Was No Hanky Panky”: A Couple Reflects On The Friendship That Led To 70 Years Of Marriage
Julia and Joel Helfman met when they were just kids — at 12 and 13 years old. Their friendship blossomed into a decades-long love story. And together they had five kids of their own, as well as 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandkids.
A few months before their 70th wedding anniversary, Joel and Julia sat down at StoryCorps to remember how it all began.
Top photo: Julia and Joel Helfman on their wedding day in November 1949. Courtesy of the Helfman family.
Middle photo: Joel and Julia Helfman (center) with their five kids, c. 1972. Courtesy of the Helfman family.
Bottom photo: Julia and Joel Helfman at their StoryCorps interview in Philadelphia, PA in 2019. By Eleanor Vassili for StoryCorps.
Originally aired July 26, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A Teenage Romance, Rekindled After Three Decades
It was the spring of 1981 in Louisiana. Liz Barnez was 16 and Lori Daigle was 17. They met while playing on competing high school sports teams. When they joined the all-star softball team that summer, their friendship blossomed into something more.
At StoryCorps in Fort Collins, Colorado, Liz and Lori sat down to reflect on their teenage romance, and how they reunited nearly 30 years later.
They married in 2015 after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. That was more than 30 years after their first kiss.
Top photo: Lori Daigle and Liz Barnez at StoryCorps in Fort Collins, Colorado. Photo by Jacqueline Van Meter for StoryCorps.
Middle photo: Liz Barnez and Lori Daigle in the summer of 1981. Photo courtesy of Lori Daigle.
Bottom photo: Robert Herman, Lori Daigle, Liz Barnez, and Haley Daigle, from left to right, at Liz Barnez and Lori Daigle’s wedding in 2015. Photo by Kris Harmon and courtesy of Lori Daigle.
Originally aired March 8, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
The Tallapoosa Possum Drop, a New Year’s Eve Tradition
New Year’s Eve in Times Square? Meh. The real action is in Tallapoosa, Georgia.
That’s where Bud and Jackie Jones, career taxidermists, live. They helped establish a completely different kind of New Year’s Eve tradition in their small town.
Bud and Jackie came to StoryCorps recently to share the love story that helped launch it all.
Since the Tallapoosa Possum Drop began in the late 1990s, the event has grown from about 40 people to over 7,000 in attendance. That’s more than twice the population of Tallapoosa itself.
Top photo: Bud and Jackie Jones pose after their StoryCorps interview in Tallapoosa, GA in September 2018. By Kelly Moffitt for StoryCorps.
Middle photo: Bud and Jackie Jones pose together in 1963. Courtesy Bud Jones.
Bottom photo: Bud and Jackie Jones pose near “Spencer” at the Possum Drop in Tallapoosa, GA in 2014. Courtesy Bud Jones.
Originally aired December 28, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A Wife Remembers Her Husband and the Stress of Family Farming
Springtime is planting season on farms all across the country. The stress of the season can take its toll: farmers have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession in the United States.
For more than 35 years, Matt Peters grew corn and soybeans on the Iowa farm that his father and grandfather farmed before him. Then in May of 2011, at the age of 55, he took his own life.
His wife, Ginnie Peters, came to StoryCorps to remember him. She spoke with Trent Andrews, the man who took over the farm after her husband’s death.
Today, Ginnie lives a few miles away from the farm where she and Matt made their life together. Now and then she returns to visit Trent and his family, who continue to work the 1,500-acre farm.
Top photo: Trent Andrews and Ginnie Peters at their StoryCorps interview in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 19, 2018.
Bottom photo: Ginnie Peters and Matt Peters on vacation in February of 2011. Courtesy of Ginnie Peters.
If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal or just needs someone to talk to, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Originally aired May 18, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Nudist Couple on Falling in Love and the Mistake Only a Nudist Would Make
We’re used to people baring their souls at StoryCorps, but this is a story about baring quite a bit more.
Ten years ago, on Tracia Kraemer’s 40th birthday, she wanted to do something she’d never done before. So she gathered her courage and paid a visit to the last surviving nudist park in the state of Louisiana, Indian Hills.
She figured she’d at least wind up with a good story, but as she remembers in this conversation with her husband Patrick, she came away with a whole lot more.
Tracia and Patrick married in 2013. Together they managed Indian Hills for several years.
Last fall, they took off in an RV for a year-long adventure visiting nudist establishments across the country.
Top photo: Patrick and Tracia Kraemer pose nude behind a tractor at the Indian Hills Nudist Park in 2015. Courtesy David Grunman / The Times-Picayune.
Bottom photo: Patrick and Tracia Kraemer at their StoryCorps interview in New Orleans, Louisiana in February of 2018.
Originally aired May 4, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Brothers Living with Autism on Navigating Through Work and Life
Russell Wadsworth, 28, and his brother Remmick, 27, have been inseparable their entire lives.
They both have autism, and as kids, they had trouble with social interactions. But being just a year apart meant that they always had one another to lean on.
Including today, as they navigate the working world as two men in their twenties. At StoryCorps, Remmick talked about their experiences working together in a coffee shop.
Top photo: Russell Wadworth (L) and his younger brother, Remmick, in Temple Terrace, FL.
Middle photo: Remmick Wadsworth (L) and his older brother, Russell, c. 1994.
Originally aired April 5, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“Tubby” Johnston: The Girl Who Changed Little League Baseball
In the spring of 1950, 13-year-old Kay Johnston spent her afternoons playing baseball on the neighborhood sandlot in Corning, New York. Kay wanted nothing more than to play Little League baseball. But at that time, it was unthinkable for girls to play on an official team.
At StoryCorps, Kay sat down with her husband, Cy Massar, to remember what she did next.
Top and middle photos: Kay “Tubby” Johnston in her King’s Dairy Little League team uniform in 1950. Courtesy of Kay Johnston Massar.
Bottom photo: Cy Massar and Kay Johnston Massar at their StoryCorps interview in San Francisco.
Originally aired March 30, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Friends and Climate Change Scientists on the Personal Cost of their Work
Dr. Lora Koenig and Dr. Zoe Courville first met over a decade ago in the middle of the Greenland ice sheet.
Their friendship formed while conducting research in some of the most remote corners of the world. As field researchers, they’re often away for weeks at a time, drilling ice cores and using ground-penetrating radar to study the impact of climate change.
Through the years, they’ve helped each other navigate the challenges of balancing their work and personal lives. They came to StoryCorps to talk about it.
Top photo: Dr. Zoe Courville and Dr. Lora Koenig at their StoryCorps interview in New Orleans, Louisiana in December 2017.
Middle photo: Dr. Zoe Courville taking snow density measurements in the field. Courtesy of Robin Davies.
Bottom photo: Dr. Lora Koenig with her son, Seelye, on a rare visit to the Russell Glacier in Greenland. Courtesy of Marilyn Koenig.
This interview was recorded in partnership with the American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest organization of Earth and space scientists.
Originally aired March 9, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Religious School Rape and Abuse Survivors Confront The Past
When the New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, Louisiana opened in 1971, the religious reform school was known as a safe haven for “wayward girls.”
Over the next three decades, law enforcement officials repeatedly investigated claims of physical and psychological child abuse at the school. Girls routinely ran away, and state officials raided the compound twice and removed children from the home.
Joanna Wright was 16 years old when she first arrived. She had been sexually abused at home and hoped the school would be a refuge. But when she got there, she was raped by the man in charge of the school.
For years, Joanna thought she was the only one. It wasn’t until years later that she connected with other former students, including Tara Cummings, who survived physical and psychological abuse while at New Bethany.
At StoryCorps, they shared difficult memories from their childhoods. Joanna begins their conversation.
In 2014, a group of women — including Joanna and Tara — came forward to say they were raped and abused at the school.
After a year-long investigation, a grand jury declined to indict the founder of the school. He died the following month.
Top photo: Joanna Wright with Tara Cummings in Cypress, Texas. Morgan Feigal-Stickles for StoryCorps.
Middle photo: Outside the gates of the New Bethany Home for Girls in an archival photo from 1988. Ellis Lucia for the Times-Picayune.
Originally aired February 23, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.