When Sandy Baker left her marriage, she and her daughter moved into a hotel. They were homeless for over 2 years, and that, they said, left them with what mattered: Those who loved them the most.

At age 19, Janie Bush gave birth to a daughter with a life-threatening condition and gave her up for adoption. After 12 years, Janie reconnected with Tracey Bush, who has since made a full recovery.

Maria Rivas stepped in as caretaker when her aging mother, Julia Medina, began having health complications. After Julia's death, a nostalgic photo reminds Maria of their life together.

On their first date, Tom Gasko and his husband, Donnie Pedrola, talked for hours about vacuum designs. "Most people aren't that passionate about something," Pedrola tells Gasko at StoryCorps.

Jamell Spann and Elizabeth Vega protested in Ferguson, Mo., after the shooting death of Michael Brown. A comforting response in a moment of rawness, immortalized in an iconic photo, led to friendship.

After three wars, two marriages and 30 months as a POW, Walter Dixon says he's proud of his time served in the military. "I'd do it again," he says in an interview for StoryCorps.

Maria Ochoa, 70, looks out for the well-being of migrants crossing into the Arizona desert from Mexico. At StoryCorps, she talks about her experiences helping people at the border.

Navy hospital corpsman James Edward Brown wasn't far from U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 that were the target of a terrorist attack. At StoryCorps, Brown remembers what he saw that day.

Carolyn DeFord, a member of the Puyallup tribe, was 26 when her mother suddenly vanished. At StoryCorps, she remembers what life has been like having never learned what happened.

Edwin Pratt, the then-head of the Seattle Urban League, was assassinated in 1969 at his home. At StoryCorps, his daughter and her godmother remember him and the night he was shot.

Army veteran Sgt. Mickey Willenbring was injured while serving in Iraq and also developed PTSD. Running a Navajo-Churro sheep farm has helped her cope with the lingering trauma of combat.

At StoryCorps, Alagappa Rammohan, 79, says books are a sacred transfer of knowledge from one person to another. A book "doesn't force you to read, but it is there," he tells his daughter.

Bud and Jackie Jones helped establish the annual Dec. 31 tradition in their town. Married 62 years, the taxidermists share their love story, which began with a snake — not an opossum.

Rick Rosenthal has been playing the role of Santa for almost seven years. At StoryCorps, he recalls how it all began.

Shortly after Larry Dearmon lost his partner to AIDS in 1991, he met Stephen Mills, the man he'd eventually marry. At StoryCorps, the couple talks about the impact Larry's prior relationship has had.

On their first date, Irakere Picon told Arianna Hermosillo that he was undocumented. He works as an immigration lawyer, and the couple, now married, face anxieties related to his status.

At the 1968 Games, some African-American athletes protested racial inequality but not all could. At StoryCorps, track star Melvin Pender recalls his teammates' demonstration with pride.

During his Army deployment, Duane Topping began poring through fashion magazines. In retirement, what started as a sewing hobby to help alleviate his PTSD flourished into a new career as a designer.

At an anti-Trump rally in 2016, a Muslim student there protesting tried to help a Trump supporter who was being taunted by some attendees angry he was there.

The town of Peabody, Mass., calls him "The King of Cool." Allan Ganz reflects on how his father introduced him to the business, and the cherry on top of his lifelong career: meeting his wife.