William Salter, who co-wrote the popular love song, told his granddaughter that the radio kept him company during a lonely childhood. When he later found the bass, he said, "I found myself."
In April, Mauricio Valdivia died from complications related to COVID-19 at age 52. For StoryCorps, his two younger siblings, Jorge and Jessica, trade memories of their generous and fun-loving brother.
As kids whose parents worked full time, Corina Ulloa and Brenda Ulloa Martinez spent a lot of time looking after one another in their Los Angeles neighborhood. Corina said it made them who they are.
In 10th grade, Ngoc Nguyen dropped out of school in Vietnam to support her family. After earning a GED in the U.S., she told her teacher how much she appreciates the energy he gave to his students.
Clara Jean Ester was a college student in 1968 when she saw Martin Luther King Jr. give his final speech. A day later, Ester was at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., when he was assassinated.
As a kid, Jeffrey Sherman told his father, songwriter Robert Sherman, about his experience getting a polio vaccine. It sparked Robert to craft the now famous Mary Poppins song, "A Spoonful of Sugar."
Rosella Liscum died at age 101 last week after contracting COVID-19. At StoryCorps in 2012, she told her daughter, "Just do what's in your heart. Do what's right and have fun."
It's been 10 years since President Obama moved to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Joseph Patton was discharged from the the Navy for befriending gay men, before openly gay Americans could serve.
Jamie Olivieri and Yennie Neal-Achigbu have been inseparable since eighth grade. From annual Christmas gatherings to a husband's death, the friends have helped each other through the good and the bad.
Sharron Cohen was the plaintiff in a case that eventually fell to a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And Cohen says that years later, Ginsberg encouraged her to embrace her part in the landmark case.
Before 90-year-old Kenneth Felts revealed to his family that he is gay, he built a friendship with another gay man, whose ability to be himself inspired Felts. He opened up "another world," for Felts.
Since 2004, brother and sister Luz and Jorge Muñoz have fed day laborers in Queens, N.Y. Since he was young, Jorge has looked for ways of putting food in the hands of those who needed it.
Kenneth and Olivia Tan recall her mother, Crescenciana. They called her Lola. She spent her life working to support and care for three generations. Says Olivia: "We are her work."
At StoryCorps, Anthony Fauci talks with wife, Christine Grady, about parenting, running and work. He sees a link: "the idea of sticking with something and not giving up, even when it's painful."
For StoryCorps, Army Maj. Ivan Arreguin remembers being deployed to New York City at a heart-wrenching moment of the coronavirus crisis this past April.
