Work Archives - Page 25 of 35 - StoryCorps

Gloria and Lou Del Bianco

Mount Rushmore, an iconic monument to American history, began in 1927 and was completed in 1941. A chief stone carver on the project, Luigi Del Bianco was an Italian immigrant and 35 years old when the project started. He worked on the site for most of 14 years of blasting and chiseling granite that it took to finish the work. Del Bianco was responsible for many of the finer details in Lincoln’s face.

Del Bianco’s daughter Gloria and her nephew, Lou, sat down at StoryCorps to share their memories of him and the work he did.

In 1966, Luigi gave an interview in which he discussed how difficult it was to work on the monument.

Originally aired October 27, 2011 on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Mary Morris

Mary Morris remembers her husband, Thomas, one of two Washington D.C. postal workers who died from exposure to anthrax in October, 2001.

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. 

Earl Reynolds and his daughter Ashley

Earl Reynolds Jr. tells his daughter, Ashley, about meeting James Brown at his father’s barbershop in Roanoke, Virginia.

Charles Maikish

John DiGiovanni, a dental salesman, was parking his car at the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993, when terrorists detonated a truck bomb in the garage. He was one of six people killed in the blast.

At StoryCorps, Former World Trade Center Director and CEO Charles Maikish (pictured above with Jan Ramirz, the curator of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum), remembers visiting John’s mother shortly after her son’s death.

Recorded April 10, 2008.

John Yates

John Yates was working at the Pentagon as a civilian security manager on September 11, 2001.

That morning, he and five colleagues gathered around a television to watch the news of the attack on the World Trade Center. Afterwards, he returned to his desk to call his wife and assure her he was fine. Soon after rejoining his colleagues, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.

The impact blew John through the air. He crawled through the wreckage and eventually found his way to the Pentagon’s center courtyard, where his clothing was cut off and a doctor began treatment.

Two days later John awoke in the hospital suffering burns on almost 40 percent of his body. The five colleagues he’d been with that morning were all killed in the explosion.

John came to StoryCorps to talk about his memories of that morning.

Originally aired September 11, 2011, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.

Bill Cosgrove

Like most first responders on 9/11, Bill Cosgrove never meant to become part of history. And he certainly never expected his life to become entwined with a priest he never met—Father Mychal Judge, Franciscan friar, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, and a true New York character.

Born in Brooklyn, Mychal Judge seemed to know everyone in the city, from the homeless to the mayor. On any given day you could find him at a baptism, visiting AIDS patients, or cracking jokes with his beloved firefighters.

That September morning Father Mychal was where he always seemed to end up—right in the thick of things. He arrived at the World Trade Center shortly after the first plane hit.

When the first tower collapsed, a group of firefighters and Cosgrove, who was a police lieutenant at the time, emerged from the dust carrying Mychal Judge’s body.

At that moment a photographer, Shannon Stapleton, snapped a picture which became an iconic image of that day—five men carrying a fallen priest, slouched in a chair, the tragedy’s first official victim.

At StoryCorps, Bill Cosgrove remembered the events leading up to that famous photograph.

Originally aired September 9, 2011 on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Jason Weems and his parents, Robin and Warren

Classes begin at Leith Walk elementary school in Baltimore this coming Monday. And Robin Weems will be there to greet her new first grade students.

Robin’s husband, Warren, a retired Marine, will also be there, because Warren is his wife’s classroom assistant.

This husband and wife teaching team sat down to speak with their son, Jason, for StoryCorps.

Originally aired August 26, 2011 on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Mort Segal and his sister, Joan Feldman

From the 1940s through the 1960s, the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York were a popular summer escape from the city.

Boasting more than 500 hotels, resorts, and bungalow colonies, the region hosted nearly a million yearly visitors at its peak.

The resorts called for entertainment, and talent agents like Jack Segal made their living booking comedians, singers, and novelty acts there.

Jack’s son, Mort Segal, and daughter, Joan Feldman, came to StoryCorps to remember their dad.

Joseph Lutrario

Retired NYPD officer Joseph Lutrario was on duty the morning of September 11th, 2001. When the first plane hit the north tower, his unit was mobilized immediately.

At StoryCorps, Lutrario remembered what happened once he arrived in Lower Manhattan.

Recorded November 8, 2007.