Regular listeners to NPR are familiar with the concept of the Segment StoryCorps. The organization records thousands of conversations between family members and loved ones each year. Through the group’s StoryCorps Legacy program, the organization works with hospice organizations across the country, including Hinds Hospice in Fresno. In this story Emily Stuart interviews her grandmother Dorothy Stuart about approaching the end of her life.
DOROTHY STUART: “I’m a colorful person. I used to have magenta hair before magenta hair was in.”
EMILY STUART: “And green.”
DOROTHY STUART: “And I had it blue, and I had it a half inch all over my head and I sprayed it black. I was supposed to be at a reception. I walked in the door and one of my friends screamed her head off.”
EMILY STUART: “Describe what Grandpa Bill looked like on the first day you met him.”
DOROTHY STUART: “You know what? I didn’t like the looks on the first day I met him. He had a little tiny mustache and then he met me at the dance hall.”
EMILY STUART: “How did Bill propose to you?”
DOROTHY STUART: “I was going to Beauty College in Fresno. Every weekend I would come home on the bus and he would pick me up in Tulare and we’d go to a little Mexican restaurant. As we were sitting there eating he dropped his fork and he said, “I give up.” And I said, “What’s the matter, what’s the matter?” He said, “Well with my mom trying to get rid of me and you trying to get me, I give up.” Then he said, “If you wanna get married in a church it’s two weeks and if you wanna go to Las Vegas it’s next weekend.” I was kind of anxious to get the ol’ boy so I decided on the next weekend. Every time I tell this I always get a giggle from somebody. And years later when I told it and he heard me at the first he says, “That sounds terrible.” And I said, “It was and I love every minute of it.”’
EMILY STUART: “We’re going to switch subjects. Are you scared?”
DOROTHY STUART: “Scared of what?”
EMILY STUART: “Of dying?”
DOROTHY STUART: “Not at all. I’ve lived longer than my parents. Bill lived at 83. When they told me I had cancer I said, “Its okay I’ve had my time.” When I got the rest of it that was coming in on me I didn’t expect. I don’t want to hurt.”
EMILY STUART: “I have one last question.”
DOROTHY STUART: “Oh.”
EMILY STUART: “And I don’t mean to say this in a bad way. How do you want to be remembered?”
DOROTHY STUART: “I’m not easy to forget. If they don’t like me they’ll remember me and if they like me they’ll remember me. So, I’ve got it made in the grave.”
EMILY STUART: “I have two questions that I usually ask you in general.”
DOROTHY STUART: “Okay.”
EMILY STUART: “Grandma where are we going? And you say crazy.”
DOROTHY STUART: “Yeah.”
EMILY STUART: “And how are you feeling??
DOROTHY STUART: “Mean an ornery.”
EMILY STUART: “Perfect, those are the two things that I needed to know.”
This piece was recorded in partnership between StoryCorps Legacy and Hinds Hospice, and produced by KVPR’s Ezra David Romero. StoryCorps is a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. StoryCorps Legacy supports the stories of people affected by serious illness. www.storycorps.org
