StoryCorps

Greer Chesher and Barb Graves talk about their time as Park Rangers in Zion National Park.

Barb and Greer first met as park rangers in 1981. Barb Graves came from being a fire fighter from the forest service. She was one of the first female fire fighters to be hired and trained.

The children of Hilda and Leo Bringhurst share stories of growing up in Toquerville, Utah between 1930 and the 1950’s.  Luzon, Wayne, and Antone Bringhurst remember working on the family farm and reading with their mother.

Carl and Shari Berger have been married almost 55 years, and it's been a good run.

What Carl calls "one of the most exciting and most stressful and most interesting years, was that one year in 1997."

While returning from a trip to New Orleans, Carl started pacing in the airport. What started as a need to walk soon turned into something very different.

Jeanine VanderBruggen and Teresa Orton are cousins, and gathered in St. George to tell their story of Pioneer heritage.

Teresa took on the presidency of the St. George chapter of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers at a time when she didn't have a job. Teresa said she'd always been interested in genealogy, but working with the museum gave her new eyes for what she did.

Alisha Weigle was born into a family of 46 children, with three mothers, and a father, in the Colorado City polygamous compound in Arizona.

"I was one of the few that went away and went to college in Cedar City," Alisha said. "I got a degree in education, but I also got my eyes opened in a big way as to what the real world was."

Martha Ham interviewed her friend Michelle Thomas in the StoryCorps booth in St. George in May, about her experiences during the nuclear bomb testing done at the Nevada test site, just over 100 miles from St. George during the Cold War.

In May and early June, Utah Public Radio was in St. George with the StoryCorps mobile bus. We've partnered with Dixie Regional Medical Center to bring you the stories from Southern Utah for your listening pleasure.

Beginning July 11 at 7:35 a.m. you can listen to the stories of Southern Utah: The National parks, the down-winders, the locals. Listen and learn, and join us on the journey of discovery.