To many kids, what their parents do all day is a mystery. Not these ones, though. This week: Stories about people for whom family and business are the same thing.
Leave us a voicemail at 702-706-TALK, or email us at [email protected].
Released September 23, 2025.
Max Jungreis: Hey, folks—This is Max Jungreis, from the StoryCorps Podcast.
Just wanna remind you that we want to hear your personal stories… so call our voicemail at 702 – 706- T-A-L-K. This week, we want you to tell us the story of something your family passed on to you… at 702 – 706 – T-A-L-K.
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MG: It’s the StoryCorps Podcast from NPR. I’m Michael Garofalo, sitting in for Jasmyn Morris this week. And on this show we bring you stories from the largest collection of human voices ever gathered… to find the beauty and wisdom hidden in ordinary lives.
KT: There’s a difference between your job and your work. Your job is something you leave behind at the end of a day, but your work is everything you leave behind at the end of a lifetime.
In this episode… the place where work and family meet…
Frank Scott: As children, we didn’t have that leisure time, you know, we couldn’t go to
the playground. He said to us, ’I need you at the garage.’
DB: I think I was in junior high when I figured I was going to follow in the family
footsteps.
MB: Are you nervous for me to take it over?
DB: No, I’m not nervous about that. You’ll be the fourth generation of the family line.
MG: For some kids… what your parents do all day is something of a mystery.
Not for the people we’re about to hear from though. For them… work and family are inseparable.
And that can be good… or not so good.
John Marboe: I brought the truck to your school, didn’t I?
Charlotte Marboe: Yeah. You decided to pick me up in the garbage truck in front of my friends.
John Marboe: Uh-huh.
It can be a source of strength…
Olivia Fite: I specifically remember telling boys, ”My mom’s a bricklayer, and she’ll come beat you up if you mess with me.” (Laughter)
But A LOT of times…. it’s just complicated…
Cathy Lane: I think I’ve been fired at least four times…
Eddie Estes: Mm-hmm.
Cathy Lane: …by Mommy. She was more serious than any boss I’ve ever had.
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MG: They say if you love your work, you never work a day in your life. And Emeline King and her father, Earnest, loved the same thing… cars.
He was a fabrication specialist at Ford… which means someone would hand him a drawing of a car… and he would build it. Emeline was one of the designers making those drawings.
And at StoryCorps, Emeline told her sister-in-law about the first time her dad brought her to work.
EK: Dad took me to the company Christmas party, and we came to a blue door. And the closer I got to it, I smelled clay. And Dad told me, ‘Behind those doors are men, and they are car designers, and the clay that you smell is the cars that they make.’
And after I left there, I said, ‘I’m gonna be a car designer, designing cars with you, Dad.’
And so, I began drawing cars. I was only 11.
MWK: And you wasn’t good at first…. [laughs] But you never quit.
EK: And when I was hired, my desk was behind the blue doors.
The first car that I designed was the ‘89 Thunderbird. And I saw the car on the road. I was so excited, I was yelling out, ‘Hey lady, I designed the car you’re riding!’
MWK: [laughs]
EK: I was able to design the 1994 Mustang. And one day at work, Dad had the biggest smile on his face … And one of his coworkers, they said, ‘Ernie, what are you working on?’ And he said, ‘I’m working on my daughter’s design.’
Several years later, Ford had to do downsizing, and I was let go. I waited a good two to three weeks before I got enough nerve to tell my father.
He said, ‘Emeline, everyone will see that this Black girl out of Detroit, the Motor City, was able to have her place in history.’
You know, we were in competition, collecting model cars. And, after Dad had passed, I came across this big box. And Dad had ordered about 20 of the Mustang Mach-III, the car that I designed.
Dad taught me to never let anyone tell you what you can’t become because you are a girl. I feel in my heart, he’s proud of his little girl. And, he opened that door.
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JM: Emeline King and Michelle Williams-King… in Detroit, Michigan. Emeline was the first Black woman to design cars for Ford.
And her interview comes from our Brightness in Black initiative… showcasing the richness and complexity of Black life all around the country.
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Next… another parent who opened doors for his kid.
Phil Mortillaro of Greenwich Locksmiths in Manhattan… got a summer gig working with a locksmith when he was just 14 years old… and loved it… a lot more than going to school.
PM: I was one of those kids who would show up when school first started. And they would see me again around Christmas time. And then they would see me in June to tell me that I had to do the grade over again. So dropping out of school was…it was inevitable.
At StoryCorps, Phil spoke with his son – and employee – Phillip Jr..
PM: You started younger than me.
PMJ: As soon as I could walk.
PM: Even before you were walking.
PMJ: Yeah, I…
PM: I’ve got pictures of you in the shop when you were in the bassinet.
PMJ: I was literally there since day one. I saw you do it, I was like, ”Ok, I can do this.” Then I kind of realized, man, you know, everyone loves my dad. One half of that is, you know, ‘cause he’s a great guy, but the other half is, like, he’s the guy who helps you when even other locksmiths can’t help.
PM: I have a sense of usefulness. And that’s a big thing in my noodle, you always have to feel like I have some worth.
PMJ: I’m not just saying this, you’re the most hardworking, tenacious person I know and…
PM: That comes from coming from immigrant parents. You can never work hard enough. Even when you’re working seven days a week they say, “You’re a little lazy.” Think about it Philip, when am I ever late?
PMJ: Never.
PM: When do I ever take vacations?
PMJ: No, never.
PM: And when am I gonna retire?
PMJ: One day before your funeral?
PM: You know it.
PMJ: Yup. [Laughter]
PM: You know if you ever didn’t want to do this, you know, I would never be heart broken. I would understand.
PMJ: Yeah, yeah.
PM: You know what I mean? My father, he hated my business man. You know, I had a cousin who became an accountant, and my father used to tell me about him all the time. But um, I think it was the, the founder of IBM, he said: ”I’m no genius, but I’m bright in spots, and I stay around those spots.” I like that.
PMJ: You raised all of us, man. Five kids and every single one of them did not ever want for anything, man. That’s hard to do for someone who just went up to the eighth grade.
PM: Well you do your best kid. This is what you do. But honestly your best. Not just your B.S. best. And even if you fail. It doesn’t feel that bad.
PMJ: You’re always my barometer. You never let anyone down. That’s what sets you apart.
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JM: Locksmiths Philip Mortillaro Jr and his dad, Phil Mortillaro Sr.
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After a short break…
…when the work you share with your kids… is dangerous.
Connie Mehmel (CM): Other mothers have asked me if it didn’t frighten me that, that you were a firefighter. I would be devastated if anything happened to you. But, uh, I have a lot of confidence in you.
MG: Stay with us…
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MG: Connie Mehmel started fighting wildfires in Washington state in the late 1970s.
It was a risky job… especially for a young mother like Connie. But that didn’t stop her son, Ian, from joining her as soon as he was old enough.
And that put Connnie in a difficult place between being a firefighter… and a mom.
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Connie Mehmel (CM): I’ve often seen fathers and sons together on the fire line, but to my knowledge we were the first mother and son. And I was, at one time, your fire crew boss.
Ian Bennett (IB): You’d been telling me what to do my whole life. So if you were my crew boss, wasn’t any different.
CM: And I believe I took you on your first fire.
IB: Yep.
CM: But I told you when we left not to call me mom. ‘Cause if you call me mom, then everybody’s going to start calling me mom.
IB: [laughs]
CM: We had a couple of days when we were on Sloans Ridge where we had to walk for two hours before we got to the fire.
IB: Yeah I remember those. Wandering around in the woods and all. It was pretty.
CM: But it was dangerous, too. You were nineteen years old. And it was a very active fire. Thousands of acres. We, one night had to evacuate fire camp. There was stuff falling. The footing was uncertain.
Other mothers have asked me if it didn’t frighten me that, that you were a firefighter. I would be devastated if anything happened to you. But, uh, I have a lot of confidence in you. And I’ve always valued a certain amount of excitement in life. But excitement often means danger.
IB: Yeah.
CM: I once got to see a tree that the wind from the fire twisted up off the stump. Lifted it up in the air and threw it back down again. There are things you see, when the fire is hot, that you’ll never see at any other time. It’s always been a very emotional thing for me, watching that power. And I’m glad you found a way to make it your life’s work.
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MG: Ian Bennett and Connie Mehmel in Wenatchee, Washington.
Connie retired from the Forest Service in 2019… after more than four decades on the job.
Ian is now a Captain in the Seattle Fire Department… and part of what he does… is train the next generation of firefighters.
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MG: To walk in HER mother’s footsteps… Army Specialist Jessica Pedraza had to follow her mom… into a war zone.
Jessica and her mom, Sergeant Marilyn Gonzalez, both served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard.
In 2010, Marilyn received orders to deploy to Iraq… but her daughter didn’t. When Jessica found out… she decided to put college on hold… and volunteered to go with her mom… so they’d be sent to war… together…
Marilyn Gonzalez (MG): When you told me that you wanted to deploy, I was so angry.
Jessica Pedraza (JP): I couldn’t be the person who had to stay home and worry about you being away. I couldn’t do it.
And, whenever I would go out on a mission, you would go in my room and make my bed, and sometimes you would come back from your missions and catch me sleeping on your bed.
MG: I hope you know they used to tease me. But it was hard not to be mom. Every time I saw you I wanted to just go up and hug you and I couldn’t do it!
JP: I just remember I always had to kiss you on the cheek and run–“Mom, I love you!”
MG: Like that day that you said it on the radio.
JP: I said “Roger…I love you.” And I remember, somebody interrupted and they were like “Hey, none of that over the radio!” And then I heard you just say it right back.
MG: Well, I just want to say that, that you were willing to put your life on the line to be there with me, I could never tell you how much that means to me.
JP: You know, I know that in a way you were kind of upset at the fact that I chose to do what I did, and give up six college acceptances that I had, to do this with you. But I think that we have the mother and daughter bond, and we have a soldiers’ bond. There’s just nothing more you can ask for.
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MG: That’s Army Specialist Jessica Pedraza… with her mom, Sergeant Marilyn Gonzalez.
After serving together for a year in Iraq and Kuwait… they both retired from the military.
That’s all for this episode of the StoryCorps Podcast.
We love hearing from you…our listeners… and our voicemail line is always open. This week: We want you to tell us the story of something your family passed on to you. Doesn’t have to be work… it can be anything. Leave us your answer in a voicemail at 702-706-TALK. That’s 702-706 T-A-L-K.
And in honor of today’s episode about being in the family business… we thought we’d bring in our own families to help close this one out…
KIDS: The stories on this episode were produced by Halle Hewitt, Liyna Anwar, Anita Rao, Yasmina Guerda, and Camila Kerwin.
They were edited by Sofiya Ballin and Michael Garofalo.
Special thanks to StoryCorps Facilitators Matt Herman, Von Diaz, Micaela Camacho-Tenreiro, and Chaela Herridge-Meyer.
This podcast is produced by Max Jungreis. The Senior Producer is Jud Esty-Kendall.
Amy Drozdowska is the Executive Producer.
The Technical Director is Jarrett Floyd. The artwork for this podcast is created by Liz McCarty.
Our host for this episode was Michael Garofalo.
Thanks for listening everybody.
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