For Old Friends, Hospital Work Brings New Challenges During COVID-19
Josh Belser and Sam Dow have always had a way of looking out for each other. The longtime friends first met in the early 80s, when they were young kids growing up in a suburb outside Tampa, Florida.
As adults, they each pursued a career in medicine: Josh as a nurse in Syracuse, New York, and Sam as a health technician in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
When COVID-19 hit, they both found their work lives dramatically altered by one of the most deadly global pandemics in a century.
With almost 400 miles between them, Josh and Sam used StoryCorps’ new remote recording platform, StoryCorps Connect, to talk about their decades-long friendship, and how they continue to support each other, especially during this difficult time.
Top photo: Sam Dow at his job in Ann Arbor, Michigan and his friend Josh Belser at work in Syracuse, NY in 2020. Courtesy of Josh Belser.
Second photo: Josh Belser in 1985 with his best friend, Sam Dow, in Brandon, FL where they grew up together. Courtesy of Josh Belser.
Originally aired April 17, 2020, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Surprise Mail Brings Love to a Soldier in Remote Afghanistan
StoryCorps’ Military Voices Initiative records the stories of veterans and their families.
Private First Class Roman Coley Davis grew up in a small town in South Georgia. After graduating from high school in 2004, he joined the military.
By the time he was 20 years old, Roman found himself 7000 miles away from home, in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan — one of the most remote outposts in the U.S. war there.
At StoryCorps, he told his friend Dan Marek about his family and his time in Afghanistan.
After the military, Roman enrolled in culinary school. He used his GI Bill to attend Le Cordon Bleu. He’s now a chef, based in Arkansas.
Top photo: Roman Coley Davis and his mema, Laverne Tanner, in her South Georgia kitchen. Courtesy of Roman Coley Davis.
Middle photo: Roman during his deployment to Afghanistan. Courtesy of Roman Coley Davis.
Bottom photo: Roman in his chef’s whites with his meemaw, Laverne Tanner. Photo by Dailey Hubbard.
This interview was recorded in partnership with the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
This story originally aired April 07, 2018 on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. It was rebroadcast April 10, 2020 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“I Want to be Remembered as a Person Who Cared”: A 93-Year-Old Retired Nurse Looks Back on Her Service
Ruth Owens has lived her whole life in the mountains of rural Tennessee. She worked as a nurse in the area for over four decades, eventually retiring when she was 85 years old.
Now 93, she sat down at StoryCorps with her grandson, James Taylor, who, along with several of her kids and grandkids, followed in Ruth’s footsteps to become a nurse.
They begin by talking about Ruth’s childhood in the late 1930s and how she eventually found her calling.
Photo: Ruth Owens with her grandson, James Taylor, in April of 2019 at their StoryCorps recording in Cookeville, TN. Photo by Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan for StoryCorps.
Originally aired March 20, 2020 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
This interview was recorded in partnership with Independent Lens and WCTE as part of a project to record stories about health and access to care in rural communities.
When The Mail Stopped: A Letter Carrier Remembers Striking For Wages, And Dignity, In The Great Postal Strike Of 1970
In March of 1970, postal workers across the country walked out in one of the largest strikes against the federal government in U.S. history. It lasted 8 days, spanned over 30 cities, and won postal workers a living wage.
Tom Germano was one of them. He grew up in a working class neighborhood in New York City, and found his calling as a letter carrier, delivering mail on those same streets he grew up on.
He came to StoryCorps with his son, Thomas, to talk about those early days, and why he was willing to put his livelihood on the line during the historic strike.
Top photo: Thomas Germano and Tom Germano at their StoryCorps interview in North Babylon, NY, on February 7, 2020. By Camila Kerwin for StoryCorps.
Middle photo: Postal Workers strike outside the main Post Office on 8th Avenue in New York, NY, in March, 1970. Tom Germano pictured second from left (between two picketers). Photo courtesy of the New York Times.
Originally aired March 13, 2020 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“There Was Just Something That Kept Telling Me That You Got To Stick This Out”: Rep. James Clyburn On Success and Failure
Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is the highest-ranking African American person in Congress. He has been credited with changing the political landscape of the United States during the 2020 Democratic primary.
In 2007, he sat down for a StoryCorps interview with his granddaughter Sydney Reed, to tell her about the life lessons he’d learned from his four decades in politics.
Top photo: James Clyburn and his granddaughter, Sydney Reed, at her college graduation from Mississippi State University in May of 2019. Courtesy of Sydney Reed.
Middle photo: Sydney Reed and James Clyburn at their StoryCorps interview in Columbus, SC on February 9, 2007. Photo by Alexandria Wright.
Originally aired February 1, 2013, on NPR’s Morning Edition. Rebroadcast March 6, 2020, on the same program.
The Boy From Troy: How Dr. King Inspired A Young John Lewis
As a young man, John Lewis was inspired by the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At StoryCorps, Congressman Lewis told his friend Valerie Jackson how he met Dr. King, and went from “the boy from Troy” to a civil rights leader in his own right.
Top photo: John Lewis and Valerie Jackson at their StoryCorps interview in Atlanta, GA on February 20, 2018. By Daniel Horowitz Garcia for StoryCorps.
Originally aired January 17, 2020, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
How His Family Farm Helped This Birder Learn To Fly
As a zoologist and ornithologist, Drew Lanham spends many of his days in the company of birds. It’s the way he’s always wanted it to be, ever since growing up on his family farm in South Carolina.
At StoryCorps, he spoke with his friend John Lane about the childhood that helped his career take flight.
Top photo: Drew Lanham (right) and John Lane at their StoryCorps interview in Clemson, SC on December 9, 2019. By Eric Rodgers for StoryCorps.
Originally aired December 20, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
From Internment to Disney, a Japanese American Artist Draws Strength Through His Work
Willie Ito was a wide-eyed little boy when he first saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in technicolor at his neighborhood movie theater in San Francisco.
That’s the moment he realized he wanted to be an animator.
But Willie’s dreams were interrupted in 1942, when his family was sent to a Japanese American internment camp in Topaz, Utah. He was eight years old at the time.
At 85, Willie came to StoryCorps with his son, Vince, to remember.
Top photo: Willie Ito at his home studio in Los Angeles, CA in the late ‘70s. Courtesy of Willie Ito.
Middle photo: Willie Ito holding a toy Dopey bank. His father bought it for him at a five and dime store when he was a child, before his family was interned in Topaz, UT from 1942 to 1945. Photo by Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan for StoryCorps.
Bottom photo: Vince Ito and Willie Ito at their StoryCorps interview in Los Angeles, CA in September 2019. Photo by Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan for StoryCorps.
Originally aired October 4th, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Loving — but Leaving — the Military
Retired Colonel Denise Baken enlisted in the Army in 1975 , following in her father’s military footsteps. She’d go on to serve for nearly three decades.
At StoryCorps, Denise told her children, Richard and Christian Yingling, about her military career, and just how closely her father’s service mirrored her own.
Top photo: Denise Baken (center) with her children Christian Yingling (left) and Richard Yingling (right) at their StoryCorps interview in Baltimore, MD on August 23, 2019. By Emilyn Sosa for StoryCorps.
Bottom photo: Denise Baken in uniform as a lieutenant colonel in 1997. Photo courtesy of the Baken/Yingling family.
Originally aired September 21, 2019, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.
Waving Goodbye: Remembering a Mom Who Was “Strong In Everything”
A lesser-known part of StoryCorps’ work happens in StoryCorps Legacy, which gives people with life-threatening illnesses the chance to record their story, and their loved ones a chance to remember. Over the past nine years, we’ve recorded over 2,000 interviews through the program.
In this recording, we hear from Maria Rivas, who remembers her mom, Julia Medina. Julia was a single mom who raised ten children while working as a cleaning woman in Fresno, California.
For the last six years of Julia’s life, Maria took care of her mother as her health deteriorated.
She came to StoryCorps to share her mom’s story with Caroline Dezan, a social worker at Hinds Hospice.
Top photo: Caroline Dezan and Maria Rivas at their StoryCorps interview in Fresno, CA on April 4, 2014. Courtesy Caroline Dezan.
Middle photo: Maria Rivas poses with her mom, Julia Medina, at a Christmas in the years before her mom got sick. Courtesy Maria Rivas.
Bottom photo: Maria Rivas poses with a picture of herself and her mother, as well as the picture of her mother waving as she drives away. Caroline Dezan for StoryCorps.
This interview was recorded in partnership with Hinds Hospice as part of StoryCorps Legacy, which provides people of all ages with serious illness and their families the opportunity to record, preserve, and share their stories by partnering with organizations across the country, including hospitals and clinics, pediatric centers, hospice and palliative care departments, and disease-specific organizations.
Originally aired September 20, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.