Tagged: valentine's day

We now bring you stories for Valentine's Day from Michigan storyteller, Allison Downey.

Allison Downey is an associate Professor at Western Michigan University.

Jo Feldman and Mike Marunowski wrote and performed our fictional bar scene.

The young children you heard at the beginning of the segment are students from the Learning Village Preschool in Kalamazoo.

Zak Rosen produced our segment.

Special thanks to Kyle Norris and Peggy Watson for their production help.

Audio postcard by Cade Sperlich

Barbara Gotaris is 72 years old and lives in Chelsea, MI. Her husband passed away five years ago. His birthday was the day before Valentine’s Day and their daughter’s birthday is the day after Valentine’s Day. Barbara spends Valentine’s Day celebrating the birth of her daughter and the life of her husband, a man who made her feel special every day of the year.

"Whenever a new song came out that my husband particularly liked, that became our song."

Romantic love, crazy love, puppy love -- there are all kinds of loves. But there's another kind of love some people experience, and that's love late in their lives.

That's what happened with 70-year-old Judith Narrol and 71-year-old Ed Storement.

They grew up in the same neighborhood in Salem, Ill., but went on to marry different people and raise separate families.

The two have recently reconnected 56 years later.

"He was the guy who sat on my stoop," says Judith, who explains that the couple's religious differences — she is Jewish and he is a Southern Baptist — caused their families to forbid their courtship.