StoryCorps North Texas Visit - Fall 2007

During fall 2007, StoryCorps - a national initiative to document everyday history and the unique stories of America - visited the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District to collect residents' stories as part of the program's cross-country tour.

Major funding for StoryCorps is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. StoryCorps is a project of Sounds Portraits Productions in partnership with National Public Radio and the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress.

The StoryCorps mobile StoryBooth, an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio, parked in the Stockyards for three weeks and collected dozens of interviews. KERA is now sharing selected interviews as part of daily programming on KERA 90.1; those interviews can be heard below:

BETTY WELCH

When Betty Welch worked as a stewardess in the 1960s, image was everything and inspections were tough. Welch talks with friend Sheryl Knight about her experiences in that field, before the title became “flight attendant” and attitudes changed accordingly.

BETTY GULLEY

Betty Gulley and her daughter Pam Gonzales talk about their years spent in Hanford, Washington. It was during and after the time the United States developed the atomic bomb. Mrs. Gulley’s family headed west only because her father’s job at a munitions plant in Ohio came to an end.

JANETTE AND JIMMY WYATT

Janette and Jimmy Wyatt talk about an unexpected addition to their family. They adopted a daughter, Stephanie, after doctors in Nashville told Janette she could never have children. The couple talked with Stephanie about how daughter Emily proved that you should never say never.

NAHID HOOSHYAR

One of the unique stories that came into the StoryCorps booth in fall 2007 involved the subject of death. The loss of a parent can be devastating, and Nahid Hooshyar expected no less during her motherís final days. Hooshyar did not expect the outlook on life and death she gained in the process.