StoryCorps in New Hampshire

StoryCorps booth in Berlin
The StoryCorps Booth in Berlin.
(Courtesy Erik Eisele)

More than 50,000 people have shared life stories with loved ones through the help of StoryCorps. The StoryCorps Mobile Booth came to Berlin in June to record your stories. You can hear these stories each week on Morning Edition, or on this section of NHPR.org.

StoryCorps: Mary Wilkinson-Greenberg

"I was all ready to take him home and Dr. Mac came in and said, 'I’m sorry, but Tim was born without an esophagus.'"

Mary Wilkinson-Greenberg of Jackson had a special affinity for children, which led her to become a teacher. And the highlight of her life, she says, was the day she first held her son, Tim.


StoryCorps: Pauline and Christine Curry

"I was 11 months the first year I went and this is going to be my 65th summer without missing 1 summer..."

Pauline Curry of Gorham, New Hampshire recalls some of her adolescent and teenage memories camping in New Hampshire's Dolly Copp Campground.


StoryCorps: Tess George and Sandy Bothmer

"I said, 'I want you to know that it’s OK with me if you need to go.' So she said, 'I don’t ever want you to think of me as a quitter.'"

Nashua’s Tess George stopped by the StoryCorps Mobile booth last June with her friend Sandy Bothmer. Tess’s mother was confined to her bed in the final months of her life, and Tess provided care during that time. Tess remembers the months being fraught with meaning.


StoryCorps: Alan and Suzanne Moberly

"I was working as a rural carrier...when there had been a mis-delivery of a special delivery letter. That’s when our lives began to intersect once again..."

Suzanne and Alan Moberly of Littleton, New Hampshire recall their early relationship as professor and student, the obstacles that kept them apart, and the chance encounter that, years later, brought them together.


StoryCorps: Priscilla Guitard and Gordon Adam

"Everybody says I’m kind of a miracle to still be here. There must be a reason I’m still here."

Gordon Adams and Priscilla Guitard both grew up in Berlin. Though they didn’t meet until they had joined the ranks of New Hampshire’s seniors, the many common threads in their lives led them to become good friends.


StoryCorps: Kathleen Frizzell, Carol Langley Lavigne and Eleanor Langley

"I admire my mother’s tenacity. She grew up during the Depression. She came from a very poor family; she came from a family where there was domestic violence; she came from a family that there was substance abuse."

Elanor Langley has spent her entire live in Groveton. She’s traveled quite a bit but has left her most lasting mark on her home town. She reflected on that with her daughter Carol and their friend Kathleen Frizzell at the StoryCorps mobile booth after a birthday party.


StoryCorps: Rebecca Boothman and Jeffrey Parker

"Our family owned all 3 major hotels in Randolph at one point in time."

Randolph's Rebecca Boothman shared some of of her family's experiences in the hotel business with her son Jeffrey Parker.


StoryCorps: Kate Hartnett and Rachel Stuart

"I knew it wasn’t right before I got married, but I thought that didn’t matter if I married a friend and my canoeing partner."

Kate Hartnett of Berlin has thought a lot about marriage over the years. Her partner Rachel Stuart asked her about some of the conclusions she’s come to as well as her experience with the institution.


StoryCorps: David John

"My mother had a cholesterol level of over 300 the last 20 years of her life."

David John of Milan learned a lot from his mother over the years. He sat down with his daughter, Pam, earlier this summer at the StoryCorps mobile booth and reminisced about her.


StoryCorps: Jody Houle

"I come from a very musical family. There are actually 10 drummers in my family...and I play guitar"

Berlin's Corey Vien and Jody Houle talk about Jody's early life growing up in a musical family, his music career and the Berlin music scene.


StoryCorps: Beno Lamontagne

"I was disgusted with the way things had gone with our Chamber of Commerce."

Colebrook’s Beno Lamontagne stopped by the mobile booth in Berlin earlier this summer. Beno was a small business owner before he took an interest in civics. And as he explains his introduction to it was a baptism of fire.


StoryCorps: Mary Jo Landry and Helen Burns

"When the chainsaw came out, that was like having gold in your hands. That was a big step up from the buck saw, I’ll tell you."

Gorham's Helen Burns grew up in a roving logging camp, in fact she was one of the few female loggers in the North Country at the time. Her friend Mary Jo Landry had a few questions about her time in the camps when they stopped by the Mobile Booth in June.


StoryCorps: Deanna Howard and Rick Tillotson

"The border did not mean a great deal around 1898 when he was born..."

Colebrook's Rick Tillotson and Deanna Howard talk about the early life and sunset years of Rick's father and one time co-owner of the Balsams Grand Resort, Neil Tillotson.


StoryCorps: Michael and Corey Vien

"I got hired at the Mill in 1976 and I was making $5.31. That was big money."

Milan's Michael Vien spoke with his son, Corey, about growing up in Berlin decades ago and what it was like working at the Paper Mills.


StoryCorps: Sally Manikian

"My mother’s at the stage where she’s a paraplegic; she can’t get out of bed; she’s on a ventilator; she’s on a feeding tube."

Randolph’s Sally Manakian was prone to travel, but shortly after graduating college, she was forced to check her wanderlust for the benefit of her family.


StoryCorps: Sister Monique Therriault and Catherine McDowell

"My sister was the first, after graduating high school, to enter the Sisters of Mercy. And I guess I must have really liked what I saw, because I followed 14 months later."

Berlin's Sister Monique Terriault stopped by the mobile booth this month with her friend, Catherine McDowell, to discuss her experiences with the Sisters of Mercy.


StoryCorps: Lilly and Don Rich

"It seems to me like after that first dance, I couldn’t stop dancing with you - and I’ve been dancing with you ever since."

Milan’s Lilly and Don Rich stopped by, just short of their 64th wedding anniversary. They met in 1944 and decided to get married, but a few things got in their way.


StoryCorps: Reggie and Barbara Moser

"I believe that when you use drugs and alcohol from a certain age, whatever age it starts you actually stop growing mentally and emotionally and spiritually at that age."

Now divorced, Barbara and Reggie Moser stopped by the booth to remember how they lived with addiction for many years while they were married, and how long the road to recovery was.


StoryCorps: Paul "Poof" Tardiff

"You couldn’t keep track of all the nationalities they had. It was like New York. Berlin was like New York."

Paul Tardiff stopped by the booth last week. Better known as “Poof,” he’s chronicled much of Berlin’s history and the history of its logging industry. He tells his friend Barbara Tetrault how he’s seen the city change.





StoryCorps in Concord, summer 2007

StoryCorps booth in front of the New Hampshire State House.
StoryCorps Mobile Booth at the State House in Concord. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
StoryCorps was in Concord for the month of July 2007 - and New Hampshire residents came by to tell their stories. You can find all the stories from 2007 below.

StoryCorps
brought to New Hampshire by
Bank of America
StoryCorps: Gertrude and Meg Gilman

"When he retired from teaching, he was 69, so he ran away and joined the circus..."

You may not think it to look at her, but Sanborton's Gertrude Gilman was once a circus clown. The 92 year old spoke with her daughter, Meg, about her time on the road.


StoryCorps: David Krempels and Marquis Walsh

"During that time, emotionally, I just hit the very bottom..everything I had known was gone..."

David Krempels of Portsmouth tells his friend Marquis Walsh how an accident sent his life went off the rails and how he managed to gain control again.


StoryCorps: Tim and James Crawford

"The first time I saw my child…I was so happy I actually felt weak..."

Manchester's James Crawford stopped by the Mobile Booth last month to answer some questions about himself and his family from his 14 year old son, Tim.


StoryCorps: May Gruber

"It made the start of unions in New York, because the doors were nailed shut..."

On March 25, 1911 a devastating fire erupted in the Triangle Waist Factory in New York City. Goffstown resident May Gruber's mother was a garment worker at the factory and retells her story.


StoryCorps: John and Diane Schaeffer

"The children had lost their parents during the war and it was just amazing how many there were..."

John Schaefer was an army officer stationed in Korea, during the conflict in that country. He saw first hand the effects of war, and tells his daughter Diane about how he tried to help.


StoryCorps: Destie and George Sprague

"How can you hate them if you’re there to help them?"

An 11 year veteran of the Marines and the National Guard, George Sprague spent 12 months in Iraq. He and his wife, Destie, talk about how the war affects soldiers differently.


StoryCorps: Kathy Bates and Lynne Vachon

"Life stops when my personal care stops..."

Somersworth's Kathy Bates explains to her friend Lynne Vachon some of the challenges she faces on a daily basis.


StoryCorps: Kathy and Douglas Van Weelden

"He sent twenty thousand men to get me out of prison..."

Douglas Van Weelden was a pilot in World War II, when he was shot down over Germany, captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp. His daughter, Kathy, asks him about his time there.


StoryCorps: Ruth Smith

"There are some mysteries in this room that we're going to uncover..."

Ruth Smith of Canterbury recalls an historic discovery on an historic day and how it shaped her teaching philosophy.


StoryCorps: Karen House and Norma Price

"When we were getting married I had to fill out a 65-page questionnaire, and he had to sign a letter of conditional resignation..."

Keene's Norma Price stopped at the mobile booth with her daughter, Karen House, to talk about about what it was like living with the secret she and her husband had to keep.


StoryCorps: Louis Emond

"They had found a WWII bomb that had missed the bridge and had not detonated..."

Louis Emond spent some time in Italy before moving to Nashua - and running into someone else who'd spent some time in Italy.


StoryCorps: Wendy and Myrian Bergeron

"I never said ‘Why me?’ again..."

New Boston resident Wendy Bergeron asks her mother, Myrian, about what effects adversity has had on her life.


StoryCorps: Governor Walter Peterson and Senator Lou D'Allesandro

"The one person I would like to have at that dinner would be my father..."

Former Governor Walter Peterson stopped by the Mobile Booth last week and answered a few questions from his friend and Manchester Senator Lou D'Allesandro.


StoryCorps: Katrina Boyajian and Gwen Gerhard

"I’ll stay with your ship ‘til she sinks to the bottom of the sea..."

Gwen Gerhard from Merrimack tells her daughter Katrina Boyajian about how their Swedish ancestors arrived in the U.S. via India.


StoryCorps: Jason and Martha Fournier

"It's just knowing that when we do move to that other place, that it's all going to be okay ..."

Time now for StoryCorps - in Concord for the month of July recording your stories.

Today, 11 year old Jason Fournier from Goffstown talks with his mother about what he fears most in the world.