Utah Families

Kay and Arnold Martinez at their St. George StoryCorps appointment in May 2025.

Programs

Kay and Arnold Martinez talk about his background and their shared experiences in Germany as father and daughter and the ways their life on the go shaped Kay's own way of life.

Jeanie Shroeder and Brittnee Goldsberry at their St. George StoryCorps appointment in May 2025.

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: Living independently with disabilities

Mary Heers, Kirsten Swanson

Jeannie Schroeder, a participant in the Turn program for disabled individuals, discusses her independent living and the support she receives from the program with her friend Brittnee Goldsberry.

Jim Thomas his granddaughter Rhiannon, and daughter Sarah Thomas in St. George, at their StoryCorps interview in May 2025.

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: Gifts of Finnish ancestry and immigration

Sarah Thomas and her daughter Rhiannon talk with Sarah's father Jim Thomas about the gifts their shared Finnish ancestry and the strength of their immigrant forebears.

Kim Lake and her son Justin Tuft at their StoryCorps appointment in May 2025.

Programs

Justin's tremendous brain influence

Kirsten Swanson, Mary Heers

Kim Lake and her son Justin Tuft share how their lives both changed after Justin's traumatic brain injury, and what it looks like twenty years later.

Charlotte Williams with her daughter Angela Bergeson at their StoryCorps appointment in St. George, May 2025.

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: A love of learning and art at 97 years old

Kirsten Swanson, Mary Heers

Charlotte Williams relates how she met her husband of seventy-five years, and how her love of learning revealed additional gifts after rearing her family.

Morgan and Micah Barrick pose in a rocky hiking area. Morgan has a grey padded hiking pack on over a strapped tank top. She has one arm around Micah. She smiles with a closed mouth and raised eyebrows. Her hair is pulled back in a pony tail. Micah has dark hair and eyes and wears a thin, trim beard and mustache and a gray tee shirt with the outline of the state of Utah in the upper corner.

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: I believe in heaven on Earth

Mary Heers, Kirsten Swanson

Morgan and Micah Barrick share their own journeys discovering their queer identities, leaving their religion, and finding a safe haven together.

Melissa Julien and Cassie Riding at their St. George StoryCorps appointment on May 10th, 2025.

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: Bringing language

Kirsten Swanson, Mary Heers

Melissa Julien grew up deaf without sign language. Together, she and her friend Cassie Riding share experiences introducing deaf children to the powerful impacts of sign language.

Kay and Arnold Martinez share a sideways hug at their StoryCorps appointment in St. George, Utah. Kay has short white-gray hair and wears glasses with colorful frames, blue and black on the top tan and black on the bottom. She smiles with one arm under her father's arm. She is wearing an army green tank top, and a large green pendant hanging from a dark cord around her neck. Arnold has one hand on Kay's shoulder, and his thumb is holding his index finger. Arnold has white hair and mustache and wears a black pullover with a short zipped placket, a left chest pocket with a button, an da piece of paper slightly extending from the pocket. Arnold looks toward the camera in a matter-of fact way, his dark eyes expressing love, and his mouth in a straight line.

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: I was in military life mode from then on

Kirsten Swanson, Mary Heers

Arnold Martinez tells his daughter, Kay, how he started his military life, how he met his wife, and some key experiences along the way.

Colorado City, Arizona (same as Hildale, Utah) United States Photo by Ricardo630 Ricardo630 03:44, 9 August 2006 (UTC) Image showslandscape with trees telephone poles, a few buildings, and in the foreground is the green "entering Colorado City" highway sign. It also reads "elevation 5,000, founded 1985."

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: Growing up in a polygamous family

Mary Heers, Kirsten Swanson

Wendy Olivia Williams-Dew tells StoryCorps facilitators about growing up in a polygamous family during her interview in Springdale, Utah.

Taylor and Ronin Salazar and Mike Rothwell at their St. George StoryCorps appointment in May 2025. Mike and Taylor stand side by side with Ronin in front between them. All of them smile with teeth. Ronin is a young girl of 8 years old. She has brown eyes and shoulder length black-brown hair with bangs to her eyebrows. She wears an orange tee shirt. Taylor rests her chin on Ronin's head. She wears an orange and white striped tee with orange ribbing around the neckline. She has green eyes and wears four small silver hoop earrings. Mike's hair, visible beneath his black and white baseball cap, is gray. He has a full, trim gray beard. Mike's eyes are green and he wears a dark gray tee shirt with black frame glasses hanging from the neckline.

Programs

St. George StoryCorps: Ronin's grandpa

Kirsten Swanson, Mary Heers

Ronin and Taylor Salazar interview Ronin's grandpa, Mike Rothwell, and share their favorite memories together, along with challenges, and how all of it brought them to a fresh start in Utah.