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StoryCorps interviews recorded in Wenatchee
He Predicted His Death
The death of a family member is tragic especially when it occurs around the Holidays, as in the case of the Fitzsimmons family of Yakima. On New Year’s Eve seven and a half years ago they lost their 29 year-old-son, Kevin, who stopped to help a motorist and was killed. In the last Storycorps Wenatchee on Northwest Public Radio daughter Abby interviews her mother, Gale about Kevin’s death.
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Storycorps Wenatchee: Keith Sexson and Matt Cadman
The Liberty Theater in Wenatchee opened for business in 1919 playing Soldiers of Fortune. Since then it has hosted vaudeville acts, numerous plays and musicals. Today the Liberty Theater is a multiplex with ten movie screens, but is still a venue for live performances. In today’s Storycorps Wenatchee, Keith Sexson recalls the beginnings of the Music Theater of Wenatchee and its relationship with the Liberty Theater with his friend, Matt Cadman.
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Korean War Veteran Share the Story Behind His Silver Star
In 1950 war broke out in Korea and American soldiers found themselves fighting in the mountainous terrain. David Gelb was in his early 20s when his company tried to take a strategic hill. It was suicidal mission, yet David survived and earned a Silver Star. He never spoke about the indecent until he was interviewed by his son, Tracy Gelb for StoryCorps Wenatchee.
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Lowering the Price to Make a Dream Come True
When you‘re buying property it’s not often that the owners lower the price to help you realize your dreams. But that is what happened to Louis Wagoner and his wife Judy when they bought a pear orchard in Peshastin, Washington. Louis tells the story of how he became a farmer and acquired the orchard to his daughter, Kristin Wood.
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Growing Up on a Sugar Plantation in Hawaii
In 2006, StoryCorps launched an initiative to collect stories from people affected by memory loss. When the Storycorps mobile recording booth was in Wenatchee, Angela Prater sat down with her father, Orlino Bareng, to record his stories about growing up in Hawaii where memories of food and working on a sugar plantation left an indelible impression.
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Wide Range of Friends Shaped a Young Man's Life
We revisit the interview that opened this series. Retired publisher Wilfred Woods talked about his father Rufus Woods’ central role in the creation of Grand Coulee Dam during the Hoover Administration years. As founder of the Wenatchee World newspaper, Rufus had a wide and varied circle of friends, who made quite the impression on young Wilfred, as he told his friend Harriet Bullitt.
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How to Help Those Suffering from Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression affects between 10 – 15% of new mothers within 6 months after giving birth. In last week’s Storycorps Wenatchee a teenager interviewed her mother about her postpartum depression and her suicide attempts. Today, twin sisters Kristie Allen and Julie Denligner of Spokane talk about ways to help those suffering from postpartum.
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The Dangers of Untreated Postpartum Depression
For many women, motherhood is a time of new discoveries, excitement and feelings of love so deep it is hard to describe. It is also a time of sleepless nights, lifestyle adjustments and enormous responsibility. Sometimes the experience is made difficult by postpartum depression as in the case of Heidi Koss-Nobel. She was interviewed by her 14-year-old daughter, Elora, about her postpartum depression in today’s Storycorps Wenatchee.
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Love and Parental Advice from a Vietnam Vet
After serving in the Vietnam War, Ronald Hull was stationed in Korea to interrogate North Korean spies. In South Korea, he met a young, artistic woman named Chung. Their courtship faced a language barrier and tensions with her family but despite the difficulties they married. In today’s Storycorps Wenatchee, Ronald shares the story of how he met his wife, with his son-in-law Brad.
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“You Can Never Judge a Book By Its Cover”
When Buford and Valla Howell of Leavenworth went into the StoryCorps mobile booth, they used the experience to make an audio record of their story for their son, also named Buford, and his family. They told Buford Junior how they met and married in the early sixties, about their first home, becoming new parents, and a cross-country road trip they took with their baby, going from South Carolina to California to begin post-graduate school and a new job. As long-married couples often do, they sometimes recalled the details differently.
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A Trade Offering for Their Brother and a Native Song
In Native American tradition, the act of telling stories helps to instill identity, and pass down tribal traditions and history to the next generation. William and Mathew Dick of the Wenatchee tribe have been sharing their stories at Native American gatherings, and also in the Storycorps recording booth when it was in Wenatchee. Mathew tells us the history of song he was given by a relative and a trade offering that was rejected.
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Realizing the American Dream in Wenatchee
Ramiro Lopez crossed the U.S. Mexico border in 1981. After years of hard work, overcoming discrimination and a steady stride towards his goals, he accomplished the American dream. Ramiro was interviewed by his friend and teacher, Greg Jordan.
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Vietnam Veteran Remembers Tragic Helicopter Ride
In this StoryCorps excert Ronald Hull shares an emotional story of a tragic helicopter ride in Vietnam with his son-in-law, Brad Drury.
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A Soldier's Surprise For Her Children
Women have served in the U.S. Armed forces since 1775 and currently make up nearly 20% of the military. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brought light to a gender shift in many military families as mothers were shipped off leaving behind their children and husbands. Elizabeth and Victoria Aspen’s mother, Maureen Peltier, is serving in Iraq. The sisters were interviewed by their father, Mike Aspen about a surprise from their mother in today’s StoryCorps Wenatchee.
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Taking a Ride with Al Capone's Brother
Ruth Clark was born in 1912 and grew up in Tekoa, Washington. In Wenatchee at the StoryCorps mobile recording booth, she spoke to her son, Sam, about working at the Coeur D’Alene Indian Agency. During her time there she assisted the architect who designed the homes on the reservation, and also worked with a Federal Marshal who helped the Indians with their money. She would later learn of the marshal’s connection with Al Capone.
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"He Was Right in the Way He Lived"
Tom Clausing was an outdoorsman and paramedic from Leavenworth. Last year, he was aboard a medical helicopter carrying a patient from the north Rim of the Grand Canyon, when it collided with another medical helicopter above Flagstaff, Arizona. All seven on board were killed. His wife of 20 years, Lucca Criminale, sat in the StoryCorps booth with her friend Sharon Lunz to remember her husband.
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College Dreams Fulfilled, Despite Sexism and Disadvantages
American women have lobbied for equality for a long time. As early as 1776, Abigail Adams made the first call for the equality that American women would gradually achieve. After the Civil War, women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought - in vain - to have women included in new constitutional amendments giving rights to former slaves. It wasn’t until 1923 that Alice Paul authored the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. 60 years later, it had been ratified in just thirty-five states, just a few short of the 38 states required for ratification.
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"Mom"
The heart of this oral history project is the conversation between two people who are important to each other. In this case, the interview is between a father and a son, about someone they both love. Jim Philipps made the trip to Wenatchee with his son Dan last month, and described how he met his wife Maggie, and how he managed to fall in love with her while he was all alone.
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Like Mother, Like Son: A Firefighting Family's Story
Today’s StoryCorps excerpt involves fire - a reality of life in North Central Washington, where hot dry summers create tinder-box conditions, and firefighters must be highly vigilant and ready to do very dangerous work to keep fires contained. Connie Mehmel of Cashmere was a firefighter in the U.S Forest Service for 31 years, and also the first crew boss of her son, Ian Bennett.
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A Fruitful Life of Orcharding in North Central Washington
Ray and Jessie O'Neal met as high school sweethearts in Chelan. Ray served as a Marine in World War Two, then returned to Chelan. His father advised him to try orcharding for a year. If he didn’t like it he could sell. That year passed, and Ray decided he and Jessie would stay in the business. In 1946 they started out with a young seven-and-a-half acre orchard. The O'Neals spoke to their eldest daughter, Linda Evans Parlette, about some of the natural perils they faced together with their fellow orchardists in North Central Washington.
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Summary
Independent producer Dave Isay turns the microphones over to the masses with StoryCorps, a national initiative to reach and inspire Americans from all walks of life to record meaningful oral histories with family members and friends.

StoryCorps in Wenatchee sponsored by:
Sleeping Lady

Koho


StoryCorps