True stories of everyday people
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Beverly Martin
As a young person, Beverly Martin applied degrees in Sociology and Library Science along with her parent’s sense of adventure to her work in the VISTA program near Laredo,Texas.
Betty Jo-Ann Montgomery Perry
With tears in her eyes, young Betty Jo-Ann listened to her first youth orchestra in NYC and realized that playing music would be a way to escape a life limited by poverty.
Karl Lee Manders
In an excerpt of his oral history Dr. Karl Manders describes his early work in Indianapolis finding non-surgical treatments for patients with chronic pain.
Sherril Lyn Adkins
In the Summer of 1966 Sherril Adkins got a job as a waitress at Catfish King in Birmingham, Alabama. Having grown up on integrated military bases she had not yet experienced the racism of ordinary white folks of the South. When the restaurant would not serve an...
Dennis Ray Wheaton Sr
Dennis, a professional chef, talks about the recipe for pound cake he learned from his mother and how, through practice, he learned to measure by eye.
Belinda Fong
An Unexpected Thanksgiving. Belinda, a recent immigrant from Australia, tells how overcoming an early hearing loss increased her love of music and her appreciation of other kinds of people.
Joan & Daniel Chapman
Mother and son, Joan and Daniel Chapman, share the telling of how their ancestor John Johnson came to Indiana and in 1821 witnessed an historic decision at Conner Prairie.
Heather Irene Hall
Heather Irene Hall tells her story about meeting the man she would marry in a Broad Ripple Vintage store while shopping for a jean jacket. Michael Hall tells his version of the story elsewhere on this website.
Michael O’Brien
Michael Obrien talks about training to go to India with the Peace Corps in 1973, how growing up in a large family on a Wisconsin dairy farm helped prepare him for that work and how stories and language affect our world view.