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Hey folks, this is Max Jungreis from the StoryCorps podcast.
Just want to remind you that you can tell us your personal stories by calling or voicemail at 702-706-TALK.
This week, tell us about your first love.
That's 702-706-TALK.
Thank you.
What do you think about marrying me many years ago?
You bowled me over with your way of kissing and the way you hold me when we dance.
You're not a fantastic dancer, but you hold me fantastically.
Being in love is one of the best things in life.
That's why so many people come to StoryCorps to talk about it.
I just love what we have.
When I wake up and see you, there's not an ugly day as long as you're there.
There's nobody I'd rather travel through life with than you.
I love you, honey.
I love you too, baby.
We're both lucky.
And I think this is done because what more can we say?
Unless I leap across this table and just hug and kiss you.
But the contradiction of love is that you don't get to have it unless you open yourself up to the possibility that it could hurt.
I love you so much.
And that's why there's no question in my mind, the death of one of us will separate us and nothing else will come between.
If you should go before me, you got to give me some wisdom on how to survive without you.
I hope that there is an afterlife and that we'll get together again.
On this episode, we're digging into our archive, the largest collection of recorded voices in history, to share stories from people who've loved and lost, and why, in the end, it was all still worth it.
I'm Jasmine Morris.
It's the StoryCorps podcast from NPR.
First, we'll hear from Paul Wilson.
He came to StoryCorps with his daughter when he was 93 years old.
The story he wanted to tell was about how he met her mother.
It all began in the 1940s when Paul was working on the top floor of an office building in Wichita, Kansas.
One day I was waiting in the lobby for the elevator.
The door slid aside and there she stood.
The prettiest girl I had ever seen.
She was the opposite.
There were three or four other people on the elevator, and I was the last one on floor number 10.
And she opened the door, and I said, thank you.
And she said, you're welcome.
That was the total conversation, that first contact.
Of course, in the next few days I saw her, but I was so backward and bashful that I didn't say anything to her except, Tim.
She said, yes, I know.
Thank goodness she broke the ice.
She said, do you know where you can get some good chop suey?
How about that for an open mind?
I said, sure.
The cafe across the street is a Chinese cafe.
They serve chop suey.
I sensed that she set that up.
I realized later she did.
When I said I eat there every day, she said, oh.
I realized I hadn't opened it.
And we had chop suey, and we got acquainted.
I found out her name was Wilma.
She found out my name was Paul.
I found out that she was divorced and had a two-year-old girl.
She found out I was about to be drafted.
Well, that wasn't good.
Well, do you know what?
I think it was two days later she brought that little girl downtown.
This is Barbara.
This is Barbara.
Was Barbara.
She was my older sister.
That's right.
Barbara was two years old.
She had a little red snowsuit, white fur hat, white fur muff that she was proud of.
And when her mother introduced me to her, she held her arms out to me, and I was done for.
Well, I did go away to war.
Your mother waited for me three years.
We got married right there in my mother's living room, and we had a 63-year honeymoon.
And as you often say to me, when we part company, you say, life is good.
And I have to think, yeah, life is good, even though I've lost my sweetheart.
Who was it that said the best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother?
I did my best.
You did.
We were real lovers.
And every day is a memorial for her.
Paul Wilson remembering his late wife Wilma Louise Wilson with their daughter Marty Smith in Wichita, Kansas.
Next, we hear from another couple in love.
What would you say is your biggest accomplishment so far in life?
Marrying you.
It certainly made me the happiest.
Me too.
That's Earl and Bobby Quenneville.
They recorded with us in Florida in 2006.
And recently, two decades after that original interview, Bobby returned to remember that day.
The StoryCorps silver trailer had come down to the Tampa Bay region.
I had to do a little bit of talking to convince Earl to be recorded.
And I remember the first time I saw you, you were running a restaurant.
I stopped in for breakfast.
And it really was love at first sight.
You know, I fall in love with you every morning over again.
I do.
But we've got an age difference.
Yeah.
I'm just starting to notice it after almost 28 years.
Yeah.
When Earl and I found each other, I was 25 and he was 50.
And age did not mean a thing.
But in our interview, I needed to ask a question because deep in my heart, I needed to have the recorded answer.
If you should go before me, you got to give me some wisdom on how to survive without you.
I just want you to be happy.
Whatever you needed to do to be happy after I'm gone, then do it.
If it means getting remarried, fine.
If it means not getting married, fine.
Whatever makes you happy.
But what if I can't be happy without you?
You're just going to have to learn how, kiddo.
Assuming that I go first.
That's true.
I plan on being around forever.
Earl was diagnosed with cancer and passed away on July 9th of 2020.
He was 92.
I still, on occasion, will play that whole interview to hear his voice.
You know...
I'm not really sure what's going to happen after we die.
I know what I hope will happen.
What's that?
I hope that there is an afterlife and that we'll get together again.
But if that isn't the case, then dying is not the most terrible thing.
It's just the end of something.
It's going to be a tiresome thing to live with for a while because you're going to feel lonely.
Don't park yourself in the house and mope.
Eventually, it'll pass.
I was lucky enough to where I had him for 42 years of my life.
I was blessed.
I still am.
Our legacy together is an example of how you can have that kind of love.
Just endless love.
Let's end on a happy note.
I love you.
I love you, too.
That's Bobby and Earl Quenneville in Florida.
One thing we've heard a lot in the StoryCorps archive is that even when you're looking for love, you might not see it coming.
I got an email on the website.
All it said was, hi there.
So I wrote back.
Turns out my dog pressed the keyboard and it automatically generates a message that says, hi there.
Well, my dog thought you were cute.
More from that love story after the break.
Stay with us.
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Connect 250 is a new project from StoryCorps and Morning Edition celebrating America's 250th birthday.
Get matched with a stranger from a different part of the country for a virtual interview that will be archived at the Library of Congress.
Sign up for this experiment in human connection at connect250.org America, get ready to meet America.
Joanna and Forrest Fix first met through a dating site, thanks to her dog.
At the time, Joanna was in her mid-40s.
She had a career as a psychology professor, but she'd been struggling with memory issues for a while.
When we met, I remember just how much fun we had.
And from that first date, I told you something was up medically, but that I didn't know what was going on with me.
I wanted to give you an out, you know, now's a good time to run if you want to put those sneakers on.
I'm sure you didn't expect for this person 12 years younger than you to have Alzheimer's disease.
But the day that I got my diagnosis, I remember calling you from the parking lot and you said, okay, you were leaving work early and you'd meet me at home.
The diagnosis, that was almost a relief because we had an answer.
You called my dad that day.
Yeah, I wanted to ask for his blessing to marry you.
I've been in love with you since the day we met.
And there's no cure.
But whatever happens, it's all about learning how to live with it and not die from it.
That's how I feel, too.
And...
It's not easy living with this, you know, starting fires every time I wanted to cook something.
It kind of concerned me a little bit.
But you've done amazing.
I've never been more proud of anyone than I have you.
You know, I wouldn't change anything because it's so good even with the pits of despair here and there.
We don't stay in that space.
I may, you know, call you by my brother-in-law's name, but you know that it doesn't mean that I don't feel that it's you, that I don't recognize your spirit.
And that's the thing that will be there until the last flame is out.
So I just couldn't ask for a better life than the one I'm living right now.
Nor could I. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather spend my life with than you.
That's Forrest and Joanna Fix for StoryCorps in Colorado Springs.
Our last story is about finding true love at a time and in a place where it felt impossible.
Glenda Elliott grew up in a tiny town in Georgia.
She came to StoryCorps at the age of 75 to remember her first love, Lori.
Laurie knew how to tease me without my being offended.
And there was something about the way she would smile that, you know, I can still see very vividly.
She was the first person I really, truly loved.
But I grew up in the 40s in a small rural community.
There was certainly no role models of what it means to love someone of the same sex.
So I didn't know how to understand that.
My high school sweetheart, he proposed to me.
And I thought at that time, that's what a woman did.
She got married.
And it didn't take me very long to realize that I'd made a mistake.
So he and I decided to get a divorce.
During all of this time, Laurie and I had stayed in touch.
I knew that I loved her deeply.
She said, well, I have very strong feelings for you too, but most of all I want to have children.
She met a man who had asked her to marry him.
Then she got pregnant, and she said, if it's a little girl, I'm going to name her after you.
Well, it turned out it was a little boy, and I was relieved.
It really would have been excruciatingly painful if she had had a little girl named after me.
Somewhere along the way, she said, if I outlived my husband and you don't have a partner, perhaps we can grow old together.
And somehow that made it all right.
But then Laurie got cancer and she didn't live very long.
And I did not get to see her again.
It didn't hit me so much until I turned 60 and I began to really think about old age.
And this was a time that Laurie and I were going to have.
And it didn't happen.
There are certain kinds of love that never die, but I don't regret at all our time together.
It is where I learned that I could love and I could be loved in that complete sense of the word.
That's Glenda Elliott.
She told her story to her friend Angela Stowe in Birmingham, Alabama.
You can see animated versions of this story and others in this episode at our website, storycore.org.
That's all for this episode of the StoryCorps podcast.
We love to hear from our listeners, and you can leave us a voicemail anytime.
This week, we're wondering, how did you meet the love of your life?
Tell us that story in a voicemail at 702-706-TALK.
That's 702-706-TALK.
The stories on this episode were produced by Nadia Raymond, Joe Corona, and Zanna McKay.
They were edited by Amy Drozdovska and Bon Diaz.
Special thanks to StoryCorps facilitators Hallie Hewitt, Maisie Tivnin, Manuela Velasquez, and Nina Porzuki.
This podcast is produced by Max Young-Rice.
Our senior producer is Jadasti Kendall.
Amy Drozdovska is our executive producer and our technical director is Jared Floyd.
I'm Jasmine Morris.
Thanks for listening.
Support for this podcast comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
