Barnie Botone tells his friend, Gordon Williams, about his 34 year career working on the railroad.

In 1969, Civil Rights leader Edwin Pratt was assassinated in his own home with his wife and daughter, Miriam, present. Miriam Pratt and her godmother Jean Soliz came to StoryCorps to remember the aftermath.

Maria Rivas cared for her ailing mother over the last six years of her life, but she remembers her as anything but fragile while talking to social worker Caroline Dezan at a hospice center in Fresno, California.

Willie Ito tells his son, Vince Ito, about his dreams of becoming an animator.

Brothers Mark Carles and David Carles talk about how they’ve dealt with Mark’s cancer diagnosis at age 24.

Shig Yabu tells his grandson Evan about an unlikely friend he made as a Japanese American internee during World War II.

Former Army intelligence collector Roman Coley Davis talks about a package he received while stationed in Afghanistan.

Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green speaks with her cousin Tenika Floyd about being raised by her Auntie and Uncle, and how their separate battles with cancer inspired her to spend her life fighting the disease.

An African American family that traces its roots back to Nancy Carter Quander, a woman who was enslaved by George and Martha Washington, talks about keeping their history alive through annual family reunions.

At 91, Helen Merrill has never missed a presidential election. She sat down with her granddaughter to remember her mother, Blanche, who rose from her sick bed to vote during the 1918 flu pandemic.

84-year-old musician William Salter tells his granddaughter, Jada, how he first found his sound, and what their relationship means to him.

In 1995, 14-year-old Tony Hicks shot and killed 20-year old Tariq Khamisa in a gang-related robbery. 20 years later, Tariq's older sister, Tasreen, remembers how she found forgiveness after her brother's murder.

Chad Vill talks to his dad, Jo Vill, about following in his footsteps as a DJ, and starting a dance party on their block in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gina Olaya and Kellen Quinton remember their family member, Wilma Mankiller, and talk about how she made history when she became the first woman Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Isabel and Juan Pablo Encinias remember their father, Lt. Col. Miguel Encinias, a Hispanic combat pilot that served in the U.S. Air Force during World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam.

Halyna Hrushetsky tells her daughter Oryna Hrushetsky-Schiffman about when she learned her Ukrainian parents had lived through the Holodomor famine.

Kirby Metoxen and his priest Father Rodger Patience talk about the forced removal of Oneida children to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and their efforts to bring 3 of the children who died there home.

Gena Gear and her son, Ryan Walz, remember Army Sergeant First Class Jodi Walz, a Desert Storm veteran who served as a trumpet player in the United States Army band.

Lana Cooper-Jones and Marla Cooper sit down at StoryCorps to remember their dad and his commitment to celebrating Juneteenth.

Milt Ehrlich remembers his wife, Etta Ehrlich, and their story of eternal love.

Avielle Richman was one of the children killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. She was six years old. Her parents, Jeremy Richman and Jennifer Hensel, recorded this remembrance for StoryCorps in 2017.

Susan Moinester tells her daughter, Margot, about how her parents met during the liberation of the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1945, and what it means to the family.

Jim Von Stein (Jim VS):  My mom used to listen to, uh, people like Elvis and Patsy Cline, which really that touched my heart, for those lyrics. 

And my dad, he barely played on a guitar. He played three chords, and I think one of ‘em was wrong. But every once in a while, when he’d drink, he’d get that guitar out and play, you know?

Of course, when I wanted to get a guitar my dad said, ‘You’re not going to have that noise maker around here’? 

But that made me become a lyricist for sure, because that was the only way I could connect to music, you know? It was through lyrics… still telling stories. 

But, you know, you gotta have heart strings. And that’s why I write songs. I try to write not just about me or my life but everybody’s life.

Jason Von Stein (Jason VS): You worked at the shipyard for many years and they would send you out to San Francisco. And you really missed us.

I remember you came back and you wrote this song, ‘Always Missing You’.

[ALWAYS MISSING YOU]

And then we did a recording of that for Mom. I guess I was five…

When you were writing those songs, those were number one hits. 

Jason VS: When did you first realize you were sick, Dad? 

Jim VS: Well, they told me I had severe emphysema. There was a doctor and she came in and she said, ‘Here’s a picture of your lung.’ And they were coal black. 

They told me, you know, that I had an expiration date.

It’s like you’re going underwater, and you’re trying to catch your breath. That’s what it feels like all the time.

But I’m still breathing. That’s what matters. 

Jim VS: I remember you asked me, uh, what, uh, were my regrets… Did I have any…. And I told you I regretted that I didn’t go out and play my music. 

You stopped everything you were doing, and learned songs of mine. You learned every one of them. And I didn’t realize it until you started playing ‘em.

Why did you decide to do it? I mean… 

Jason VS: Because your songs deserve to be heard. You can’t spend your entire life devoting yourself to something. And then nobody hears that? That’s not ok.

Jim VS: You know, you got so much time in your hourglass and it’s how you use it. And that’s up to you. 

Long after I’m dead and gone, and people forgot who I was… the song has its own life. 

And you are the voice for my songs.

In 1959, as a senior in college, Albert Jose Jones founded the first Black Scuba Diving Club in the U.S. Since then Albert and his fellow divers have traveled across the world diving and discovering history. Now 93, Albert looks back on a lifetime underwater with his colleague Jay Haigler.

Marilí Rodríguez García talks about the grief of losing a newborn, and how she healed working as a doula.

Cynthia Alvarez is a peace activist, and was surprised when she fell in love with her late husband, Marine Corporal Dan MacMurray, 17 years ago. He died last year, and Cynthia came to StoryCorps to look back on their life together.

Rusty Kanokogi, who brought women’s judo to the Olympic games, is remembered by her daughter, Jean Kanokogi, and student Eve Aronoff Trivella.

Teachers Fernando Hernandez and Moisés Villalpando remember the unique fundraising experience they had to take their fifth grade students on a class trip to Washington, D.C.