Robert Stokely
Army Sergeant Michael Stokely enlisted in the Georgia Army National Guard straight out of high school. He deployed to Iraq in 2005, where he was killed by a roadside bomb.
At StoryCorps, his father, Robert Stokely talks about traveling to Iraq to pay tribute to his fallen son.
Originally aired June 15, 2013, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.
Top: Robert and Michael, who died on deployment in Iraq in 2005. Photos courtesy of Robert Stokeley
Adrian Hawkins and Horace Atwater Jr.
Horace Atwater Jr. (right) took in Adrian Hawkins (left) as a foster child when he was about 14 years old. Until then, Adrian, who had lived in several group and foster homes, remembers, “times being hungry, seeing drugs and all kinds of stuff.”
At StoryCorps, Horace tells Adrian about the very personal experience he had with his own family that led him to care so deeply for a stranger.
Originally aired June 14, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Charles Barlow and Bernard Holyfield
When Bernard Holyfield (right) was 5 years old he owned a dog named Lassie—a collie that looked just like the fictional dog on television.
At StoryCorps, he tells his friend Charles Barlow (left) how he learned skin color mattered after Bernard and his younger brother, Evander (who would go on to one day become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world), were playing in the yard and a drunk started harassing Lassie.
Originally aired January 18, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Mark and Jessie Edens
Mark Edens is a retired state trooper who worked for the Michigan State Police for 25 years.
During that time, he was often tasked with investigating fatal car accidents on Michigan’s highways.
At StoryCorps, he sat down with his daughter, Jessie, to talk about his work.
Originally aired August 31, 2012 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Winslow and Dorothy Jackson
Winslow Jackson met his wife, Dorothy, in 2006. He was divorced. She was widowed. And they both had Multiple Sclerosis. While receiving rehabilitative care at an Atlanta hospital, they connected. And at StoryCorps, the couple remembered what drew them to each other.
This story is also included in All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps.
Originally aired March 23, 2012 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Jim Fletcher and his wife MaryAnn
Jim Fletcher remembers meeting his wife, MaryAnn, in first grade.
Originally aired December 9, 2011 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Left: MaryAnn and Jim Fletcher at their junior prom in 1978. (photo courtesy of the Fletchers).
Joel Healy and Kelli Healy Salazar
Joel Healy joined the Army when he was 17 years old to help pay for college. He never imagined that he would witness the detonation of more than 20 atomic bombs.
Joel was a private first class when he was assigned to Camp Desert Rock, north of Las Vegas in 1957.
That’s where he took part in Operation Plumbbob, one of the largest nuclear tests series ever conducted on U.S. soil.
At StoryCorps, Joel told his daughter, Kelli Healy Salazar, about his time at the Nevada test site.
It’s hard to determine just how many became ill because they were present at these tests, but Joel and thousands of others have received compensation from the federal government as part of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990.
Originally aired October 12, 2012, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Martin Levin and his granddaughters
92-year-old Martin Levin tells his granddaughters Jennifer Goebel (L) and Zoe Crowe (R) about a college classmate he didn’t like.
Carl McNair
On the morning of January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lifting off. All seven crew members were killed.
Ronald McNair was one of the astronauts aboard Challenger that day (Challenger crew is pictured at left; Carl is in the front row, far right). A graduate of MIT who grew up in the small farming community of Lake City, South Carolina, McNair was only the second African American to visit space.
His older brother, Carl (pictured above), talked about how Ronald’s journey from the rural South to outer space began with an act of courage at the local public library.
Click here to watch “Eyes on the Stars,” a StoryCorps animation of Carl’s remembrance.
Originally aired January 28, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Laura Greenberg and Rebecca Greenberg
Growing up in her parents’ home in Queens, New York, in the 1950s, Laura Greenberg says she didn’t know what normal behavior was. At StoryCorps, she shares with her daughter Rebecca stories of some of her family experiences, and recalls meeting and marrying her husband.
Originally aired January 21, 2011, on NPR’s Morning Edition.