Narrative

In 2024, Pam Sulton invited her friend, Yvonne Smith, to join her at StoryCorps to share what inspired her to become a doula and some of her experiences along the way, a conversation Sulton hopes to leave as a legacy for her family so that they may know how much she enjoyed helping bring new life into the world.

Sawyer Drayton was just two years old when he first met Charlotte, who is now his step-mom. Together, they’ve bonded over their many adventures. 

The summer after Peyton Wooldridge of Chester, S.C. graduated from Mary Baldwin University in 1968, two of her female classmates went to Vietnam to serve during the war. One of those classmates wrote to her, encouraging her to also come and serve, saying, “This will change your life.”

After three months of explosive ordnance and heavy equipment training by the U.S. Army, 18-year-old Roger Thompson arrived for duty in Vietnam in March of 1968. During his service, he witnessed firsthand the terrors of war, which inspired his lifetime mission of helping fellow veterans who struggle with both the physical and mental effects of combat. In 2021, Thompson and his friend, Kym Klapperic...

Upon graduating at age 17 in June of 1967, Michael Richardson pondered his future and longed for a career. In December of that year, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army, where his training began in January 1968 at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was there that Richardson had his first experience working in snowy conditions.

Karen Kustafik is a City of Columbia Park Ranger. She and her friend, Margaret Clarkson, met and bonded over their love for Columbia’s natural resources, and in particular, its system of rivers, which flow through the heart of the city.

William Justice and Taylor Gilliam began their friendship in 2017 as client and attorney. Since his early childhood in West Columbia, Justice had experienced several arrests and incarcerations.

At the turn of the 20th century, the South Carolina State Farmers Market was simply known as “Columbia’s City Market,” located on Assembly Street. It was there that George Oswald and his family labored daily, arriving before the sun rose, then packing up well past sundown.

While friends Chiara Cox and Elen Callahan did not grow up together, they share a similar journey. They were both born in the Philippines, but eventually moved to the United States. Although they sought to assimilate into their new American culture, they began to long for the people and traditions they had once known in their youth.

When Harriet Hancock's middle child, Greg, came out to her as gay, she instantly accepted and supported him. But she learned that his friends who were gay had not received the same kind of acceptance as she had given her son.

After three months of explosive ordnance and heavy equipment training by the U.S. Army, 18-year-old Roger Thompson arrived for duty in Vietnam in March of 1968. During his service, he witnessed firsthand the terrors of war, which inspired his lifetime mission of helping fellow veterans who struggle with both the physical and mental effects of combat.

On August 28, 1963, an estimated 250,000 people made their way to Washington, D.C. to demand civil and economic rights for African Americans. In attendance at the March on Washington was Gloria Dreher Eaddy of Columbia, SC, who later became a friend and mentor to Dr. Bobby Donaldson, a professor at the University of South Carolina.

In the South Beltline and Gills Creek area of Columbia, many homes were extensively damaged by 2015’s historic “thousand-year flood.” Rachel Larratt, a survivor turned volunteer from that area, reflects on the water rising in her own home, as well as the deflated spirits of other survivors who continued to struggle to recover after the disaster. In 2016, Larratt reflected on the impact the flood h...

In the neighborhoods surrounding Lake Katherine, one of the most heavily flooded areas in Columbia during October 2015’s historic “thousand-year flood,” locals went from house to house on Jon boats and pontoons to rescue neighbors trapped in their flooded homes.  Marwan Marzagao was among those who teamed up with a small group of men to help save others from harm’s way. The following year, he refl...

Last week, Narrative focused on South Carolina students who survived 2015’s historic “thousand-year flood.” This week, the focus shifts to the other side of the classroom, through the eyes of two teachers. Elizabeth Webb and Louise Cruea survived South Carolina's flood before surviving a second massive flood in West Virginia the following summer. Their children, who were with them during both evac...

This edition of Narrative continues our look back on the 10th anniversary of the historic “thousand-year” flood of October 2015, which devastated several communities across South Carolina. The following year, Columbia residents Davis and Maegan Latham shared their experience of being displaced after their family’s home was damaged by the massive floodwaters. The siblings struggled to keep up with...

On this edition of Narrative, we mark the 10th anniversary of the historic “thousand-year” flood of October 2015, when relentless rainfall devastated communities across South Carolina. A year after the flood, Columbia resident Beki Gettys and her eleven-year-old son Eli sat down to talk about the morning they awoke to flood waters overtaking their neighborhood. They spoke with StoryCorps , a natio...