José Rodriguez and Charles Zelinsky
When he was a teenager, José Rodriguez was kicked out of public school.
He was diagnosed with a learning disability and sent to a school for students with special needs.
This qualified him to participate in the New Jersey Special Olympics – any child or adult with an intellectual disability can take part.
At StoryCorps, José told his former coach, Charles Zelinsky, what his life was like before he found the games.
José is now a Special Olympics basketball coach–and will be coaching during the 2012 New Jersey Summer Games.
Originally aired June 8, 2012, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Robert Holmes
When Robert Holmes was a kid, his family moved to a white section of Edison, New Jersey.
It was 1956, and they were one of the first African American families to integrate the neighborhood.
Today, Robert Holmes is a professor at Rutgers Law School.
Lee Buono and Al Siedlecki
Al Siedlecki (right)—or “Mr. Sie,” as his students call him—has been teaching science at Medford Memorial Middle School in New Jersey for more than three decades.
But a few years back, as Sie was helping a group of students study for a test, something happened that in all his years of teaching had never happened before: he received an urgent phone call from a neurosurgeon.
As it turns out, the doctor on the phone was Lee Buono (left), who was one of Sie’s students back in the 1980s. Today, he’s a neurosurgeon. At StoryCorps, Lee and Al sat down to tell the rest of their story.
Originally aired September 25, 2011, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.
If you have an inspirational teacher in your life, let them know about The Great Thanksgiving Listen, our national oral history project that empowers students to preserve the stories all around them.
George Lengel
George Lengel grew up in Roebling, New Jersey, during the 1940s. Back then, it was a company town owned by the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company. Nearly every member of George’s family, including his mother and grandmother, worked in the steel and wire mills.
The Lengel family helped produce wire rope that supported scores of suspension bridges including the Golden Gate Bridge and the original elevators in the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building.
George went on to become a history teacher; he taught in New Jersey public schools for 31 years before retiring.
At StoryCorps, George remembered his childhood in Roebling, and the one man who stood above all others in a town full of tough men—his father.
Originally aired April 8, 2011 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
John Abruzzo and Michael Curci
John Abruzzo (above) is a quadriplegic who uses an an electric wheelchair. On September 11, 2001, he was working as an accountant for The Port Authority in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Abruzzo escaped the building with the help of 10 colleagues, who carried him down 69 flights of stairs in an emergency evacuation chair. At StoryCorps, John spoke with Michael Curci (left), one of the 10 who helped him to safety.
Recorded September 26, 2007.
Northlandz
Just off Route 202 in Flemington, New Jersey, sits an unimpressive warehouse that holds a most impressive life’s work — that of the husband and wife team Zaccagnino, creators of the world’s largest model railroad. Inside, scores of model trains wind their way past an unrelenting succession of impeccably detailed scenes in miniature — mini cities give way to mini mining towns, mini graveyards, even mini outhouses. In the center of it all, Bruce Zaccagnino plays a massive pipe organ, providing the soundtrack to this universe in miniature.
Recorded in Flemington, NJ. Premiered September 7, 2004, on All Things Considered.
This documentary comes from Sound Portraits Productions, a mission-driven independent production company that was created by Dave Isay in 1994. Sound Portraits was the predecessor to StoryCorps and was dedicated to telling stories that brought neglected American voices to a national audience.