Posted by Jeremy on October 16, 2008, from Roanoke, Virginia
Community Partners: Richfield Retirement Community
I believe the true function of age is memory. I’m recording as fast as I can.
- Rita Mae Brown
On October 8, MobileBooth East completed our first Door-to-Door recording in Salem, Virginia at the Richfield Retirement Community. We learned very quickly about the hard work the Door-to-Door team does on a regular basis and realized the challenges and rewards of taking the StoryCorps experience to people’s doorsteps. We met wonderful folks and recorded stories that were funny, poignant, and heartwarming. We heard the story of Eileen Dunnavent, who worked in a factory to support her two children. We listened to Erna Isler recall her days as an artist in Mexico, and we relived a moment with Dora Leigh and Dwaine Russell when they had their first conversation on a friend’s front porch. The European travels of Nancy Mutter, a.k.a. “The Countess of Sower, Virginia” made for quite a few amusing tales, and Elinor Bradford’s account of how Mole Hill got turned into a mountain had Nina howling with laughter!
We’d like to thank the staff of Richfield Retirement Community for making us feel so welcome and for caring enough to preserve the memories of their residents.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Sounds like you heard great stories there. The pictures are show a great deal of warmth.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
It was nice to share those memories with you. =)
October 21st, 2008 at 9:40 am
I love the photos and story snippets; thanks for sharing what a wonderful experience an on
site recording day can be!