StoryCorps

Alma Hammond interviewed his brother Arthur about growing up in a polygamous family in the mid 1900s. Arthur was born in 1948 at his uncle's house while his mother was in hiding.

"My mother was in hiding because she was a plural wife, and plural marriage is against the law. That was part of our childhood. Our parents lived under the threat of arrest, which made it imperative to protect our parents. If you went to school, you couldn't say who your father was," Arthur said. "I went to school at a place where others of my siblings went, but because they were siblings from a different mother, you couldn't acknowledge them as such."

In the spring of 1953, the Hammonds moved to Highland Drive, where Arthur said the neighbors were closer and keeping the polygamy a secret was imperative, and more difficult.

Most people who come into the StoryCorps recording booth bring a partner  with whom to have a conversation.  46-year-old Greg Peck's interview partner had a family emergency just prior to their appointment and had to cancel. Greg reluctantly agreed to come into the Booth anyway and StoryCorps Facilitator, Olivia Cueva interviewed Greg in St. George in May 2013 about his lifelong love affair with baseball.

"The year that I turned eight years old was the year that Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record. As an eight year old, my older brother, he took me to see the Padres play the Atlanta Braves and Hank Aaron hit two home runs in that game. It was just maybe a month or two after he had broken that record. That was my first experience of seeing a real ballgame being played in a big stadium and to see Hank Aaron hit two home runs for the first time, that's something that's stayed with me for all these years. With that kind of a beginning of baseball, how could anyone not love the game?"

Chelsea Bundy was a 3-year-old girl from St. George when she met Thomas Taylor. Taylor worked at Dixie Regional medical Center. He came to the StoryCorps booth in St. George to tell her story.

Chelsea was at a family outing when she was hit by one of her cousins driving an ATV- crushed between a fire hydrant and the ATV. She was rushed to the hospital, where she was in critical condition.

"She arrived at the hospital, she was unconscious, very pale. Her tummy was starting to swell because there was some internal bleeding," Taylor said. "The ER doctor said she probably was not going to survive."

Terri Kane, CEO of Dixie Regional Medical Center interviewed Ron Metcalf, chairman of the Center's board,  about the history of the Dixie Regional Medical Center- and the years before it was known as such. Metcalf's family moved to St. George in the '60s, and his family has been involved with the hospital since.

St. George was a dry and desolate area, in the eyes of young Metcalf. His father owned a mortuary in town, and since the town didn't have an ambulance, his father was asked to provide one.

"They asked the mortuaries to provide the ambulance service simply because the mortuaries had the vehicles, they had the equipment and had stretchers they would use  in their profession. This lent itself to being able to help people when the need arose in an emergency," Metcalf said.

Jeremy Larsen interviewed his friend and  fellow band member Robert Keller about living with a mental illness in the StoryCorps booth in St. George. They talk about how Larsen learned how to manage his  illness thanks to the help of his friends like Jeremy, and Southwest Behavioral Health Center.

They also talk about their band, which is a day program based at a mental health facility. and the challenges they face as a group that could make them excel.

Robert Verhelst ran the St. George Ironman in May. He runs many full and half Ironmans in full firefighter gear, which weighs 50 pounds,  as a token of remembrance for Sept. 11, 2001.

In 2001 Rob did 8 days of search and recovery under the wreckage of the Twin Towers. He said he still remembers what it was like.

Jordan Rapp and Paul Jewkes talked in the StoryCorps booth while attending the Ironman 70.3 in St. George in early May. Jewkes was participating for the first time, but Rapp  said he was taking part in what was "probably my 15th, maybe 20th half ironman,"  as a full-time as a professional.

Jewkes said he has been following Rapp's career, and asked him about how he got involved.

Sonya Gelter is a single mom of five children, and she was the recipient of a zero-percent loan for a Habitat for Humanity home. She was interviewed by Lil Barron, a Habitat for Humanity employee, in the booth at StoryCorps.

"I was just getting divorced. I had five children, and we were on our way to losing a home," Sonya said of her life just prior to her Habitat for Humanity experience. "I didn't know what to do, or where to go. I had these five kids, my youngest, the twins, were a year and a half old."

Daniel and Bunny McArthur tell the story of their experiences in childbirth. Then, after the youngest of 6 children was in kindergarten, Bunny decided to finish college- at the same time as 3 of her children.

"All the rest of our children were miracle babies. Jeff was 3 weeks early, we didn't know anything wrong," Daniel said.

Mike Empey speaks with his friend Glenn Rogers about what he has learned as a member of the Shivwits Band of Paiutes. Rogers remembers spending his early years getting an education in a small community where he was a minority. He continues to work with Paiute Indians to help educate and improve the quality of life on the reservation.