storycorps

Ten years ago, I interviewed my mom, Carolyn LaDuke, for an on-air StoryCorps inspired celebration of Mother’s Day. We recorded the interview on her 70th birthday in April 2011. Two years later, I recorded an interview with her again - after she’d recovered from a heart attack and while she was undergoing treatment for a second recurrence of breast cancer. This past April, she turned 80. The last time we went to Tennessee, Paul and I had a meeting with my parents, their priest and one of my brothers about funeral planning, my dog played with the dog my Dad got to keep him company when my mom dies, and I recorded a new conversation with my Mom.

Dave Isay is the founder of StoryCorps and the recipient of numerous honors, including six Peabody Awards, a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship and the 2015 $1…