Sam Reed

Sam Reed is a mortician whose interest in the funeral business began when he was a child. For more than a decade, has also been the caretaker at Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery.  At StoryCorps he discusses the many reasons he loves his job.

Originally aired November 6, 2009, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Chloe Smith and Willie Jefferson

Chloe Smith talks with Willie Jefferson about the 23 years he has worked as a custodian at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School, and some of his impressions of her.

Originally aired October 23, 2009, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Lori Armstrong and Janet Lutz

Janet Lutz (right) is a hospital chaplain who blesses the hands of the people who work there. She tells her friend Lori Armstrong (left) about coming across another hospital employee—a woman who prepare the surgical instruments—who prays for each of the patients going into surgery.

Originally aired December 19, 2008, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

William and Kimberly Weaver

Lynn Weaver talks with his daughter, Kimberly, about his father, Ted Weaver, who worked as a janitor and chauffeur in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Weaver was Chairman of Surgery at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta when this interview was recorded in 2007.

Dr. William Lynn Weaver died in May 2019.

Originally aired April 13, 2007 on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Murray Brown and Kerrie Cotton Williams

Omar Leech

Omar Leech remembers his first exposure to gang life as a young man in Toledo, Ohio. Leech passed away in 2007 in a car accident in Atlanta. He recorded this interview there just three weeks earlier.

Originally aired May 29, 2007 on NPR’s News & Notes.

Jim McFarland

Jim McFarland recalls traveling with his grandmother from his home in New York City to the segregated South during the summers when he was a young boy. While he found some aspects of the South interesting, it wasn’t until he was 11 years old until he understood racism.

Originally aired May 15, 2007, on NPR’s News & Notes.