In preparation for the centennial of the establishment of the Greek community in Utah, from 2005 through 2009 YourStory worked with members of the Greek-American community to record the life stories of several second-generation Utahns whose parents originally came to Utah in the early part of the 20th century. The following are just a few of the amazing stories told by these passionate and engaging individuals as they recount their younger days in the mining towns and in the “big city” of Salt Lake.

Peter Vrontikis

Peter Souvall

Nick Sefakis

Mary Mannos

Mary Chachas

Margo Sotiriou

Josephine Theodore

John Chipian

Jayne Coleman

Greg Skedros

George Pappas

Con Skedros

Chris Metos

Bessie Markos

In the summer of 2006 the YourStory program began to record the life stories of refugees now living in Utah. The project goal was to document the rich diversity of life experiences present in refugee communities throughout the state. The International Rescue Committee’s Salt Lake City office, as well as the State of Utah’s Department of Workforce Services, and the Utah Arts Council’s Folk Arts Program have been important collaborators. Catholic Community Services and the Asian Association of Utah have become involved more recently in recommending potential refugees who would like to share their life stories.

DeWitt

Aveen Mohammed

Robert Simbe

Lydia Sequiera

Kamal Bewar

From 2003 until 2010 the YourStory program recorded interviews with Utahns in studios in downtown Salt Lake City, first at the Museum of Utah Art and History and then at the Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Art. Presented here are just a few selections from the hundreds of life stories that have been recorded. They demonstrate the similarities, diversity and uniqueness of each narrator’s life experiences, and in the process, they provide us with a greater understanding of our community as a whole. 

Charlie Piper

Alice Kasai

For the centennial of the YWCA’s arrival in Salt Lake City, YourStory collaborated with the organization to present an exhibit entitled “HerStory” at the Museum of Utah Art and History in 2006. We recorded the stories of many women who had been a part of the life of the YWCA during the last one hundred years and created an audio tour to accompany photographs of the accomplishments of this incredible organization. Accompanying this brief sampling of a few of those stories are some of the photos from the “HerStory” exhibit. We’ll be rotating stories and photos periodically to present a fuller understanding of the amazing work and wide-ranging successes of the YWCA in Salt Lake.

#18 YWCA Story

#17 YWCA Story

#3 YWCA Story

In the summer of 2005 YourStory began a partnership with the Huntsman Cancer Hospital to record the life story of any cancer patient who requested this service. To date, over 1,200 individuals have recorded their personal histories, providing both a lasting legacy for their families and friends, and a time of reflection during the treatment process. The following stories demonstrate the rich range of experiences shared by those touched by a cancer diagnosis. Primarily these stories are about lives lived fully and not about the struggles these remarkable people have had.

David Tea

Josie Roche

Wendell Roundy

Julia Sheehan

KathleenHealy Clip1

Kitty O'Driscoll

Lizzie Minnihane

Nellie O'Driscoll

Mary Kate O'Driscoll Clip

May O'Driscollclip

Mary Mac O'Donoghue

YourStory: Record and Remember is a program that initially grew out of a course taught by Professor Meg Brady of the Department of English at the University of Utah. As the 2003-2004 University Professor, Brady developed a new interdisciplinary course in “The Life Story” to train students in interviewing strategies and the narrative genres of memoir and life history; this course was at the core of the YourStory endeavor. It provided students with the necessary skills and understandings to carry out the important work of life story preservation, and at the same time created a vital link between the students’ university experiences and their service to the larger community.

Students in this course have collected the life stories of individuals at the Multi-Ethnic Senior High-rise, the Indian Walk-In Center and at various hospice organizations in Salt Lake City. In consultation with the Dean of Humanities and the Chair of the English Department, Brady developed the YourStory program. Devoted to the recording and preservation of the life stories of all Utahns, the program’s first location was inside the Museum of Utah Art & History in downtown Salt Lake City; it included a studio for recording life story interviews where a trained facilitator guided individuals in telling their stories and took care of all the technical aspects of making a recording. Later, the YourStory offices moved to the Chase Museum of Utah Folk Art in Liberty Park. With permission, these narratives were also archived at the University’s Marriott Library, where family members can access them for generations to come. 

UofUYourStory

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