The Simple Lives We Live
Some of the most extraordinary stories don't come from celebrities or history books. They come from everyday people - your neighbor, your grandmother, the man who runs the corner store, or the woman sitting next to you at church.
On The Simple Lives We Live, we sit down with ordinary people to uncover the beautiful, hard, faithful, and fleeting moments that shaped their lives. Stories of love and loss. Of grit and grace. Of family, faith, and the simple days we didn't know we'd one day miss.
So please join me each week as we capture voices and memories that deserve to be heard and remembered. Because the truth is, ordinary people live the most extraordinary lives.
💌 Get new stories in your inbox every Friday: https://the-simple-lives-we-live.kit.com/profile
Episodes
41 episodes
If You're Gonna Walk on Thin Ice, Dance | Stan Koppinger
Stan Koppinger grew up one of four boys in a tiny house in New England, ND, where his dad’s whistle called them home for lunch. He started at the bank at 17 and spent 45 years as the guy they sent in when a bank was in trouble, from Dickinson a...
Sherry - Beyond The Conversation
Sherry and I kept talking after the interview, and it turned into some of my favorite stories!In this Beyond The Conversation, we talk about growing up before cell phones, when you came home when the streetlights came on, and why a princ...
A Life Spent Caring for Others | Sherry Libis
In Sherry Libis's second grade classroom, kids who talked too much had to wear a paper bag over their head. Sherry grew up in Eureka, South Dakota, playing fort on the cement bags at her dad's lumberyard, and spent 31 years in education in Beac...
Reba - Beyond the Conversation
In this Beyond the Conversation episode, Reba and I go a little deeper into her experience of motherhood and the lessons she learned along the way. We talk about raising kids, setting boundaries, keeping life simple, and the perspective that co...
You're Gonna Be All Right, Just Hang On | Reba Olsen
At a big family reunion, Reba Olsen joked that if she didn't meet Mr. Right by the next one, she'd join the nunnery. She met Chuck in Laramie the very next day. The youngest of six kids from Oneida, near Pierre, South Dakota, Reba grew up in a ...
God Will Take Care of You | Janice Stedman
What happens when two kids with the mumps decide to have an egg-eating contest? Janice Stedman grew up a tomboy named "Johnny" on a farm near Galva, born in Beach, ND, with no running water and plenty of mischief. She graduated in a class of th...
I Count My Blessings Every Day | Barb Stedman
Barb Stedman got engaged twice in her life, both times on Christmas Eve, and the second husband had no idea about the first. Many in Beach, ND know Barb from her 30 years running the produce department at the Beach Food Center. Listen for her l...
Always Room at the Table for One More | Sandi Perdaems
Out of fish on a Friday with 20 harvest-crew orders waiting? Grandma didn't even blink: "Okay guys, today you can have meat." My aunt Sandi Perdaems takes us back to the Stockwell house in Beach, ND, where there was always room at the table for...
Someday I'll Marry a Rancher | Irene Wolf
In eighth grade, Irene Wolf wrote down her dream: someday she'd marry a rancher. She did. Irene grew up on a small farm west of Killdeer, ND, sleeping in tents all summer because the house was too small, and was on her own at 15. She and George...
Medora Was My Playground | Bobby Olstad
In 1950s Medora, you cranked the phone and asked the operator for "three four, please." Bobby Olstad grew up roaming Medora, ND like it was her own backyard, riding the train to Dickinson for new shoes and hauling cases of ice-cold pop up the a...
So God Made a Farmer | Don Hardy
"You're living your grandparents' and your parents' dream." That's what Don Hardy's cousin told him from the combine, and it stuck. Don still farms the land his grandpa came to in 1930, in the same farmhouse built in 1909 outside Beach, ND. Lis...
These Are My Kids and We Will Make It | Sally Abernethy
At three months old, Sally Abernethy was carried off by the carnival because she was the loudest baby in the car. "They did get me back," she laughs, "but I'm not sure I belong to you guys." At 88, Sally shares losing her dad young, a mom who r...
A Quiet Leader | Jean Hardy
Jean Hardy came to Beach, ND planning to stay two years. Then Don's dad, who sat on the school board, told him, "You need to meet her before she leaves." Jean was my first-grade teacher, and she shares growing up the middle of seven kids, carin...
Angels in the Northern Lights | Jan Wales
The barn on Jan Wales's family farm said "Harold, Rita and Sons." Jan was one of the daughters. She takes us from late-night drives home after midnight mass under the northern lights to life as a young Army wife at West Point, where Rick was th...
The Long Way Home from Vietnam | John Ross (Part 2)
In the 1966 blizzard, John Ross helped dig out a buried train, then opened Life magazine and saw himself in it. In Part 2, my uncle John shares his time in Vietnam, coming home to a country that didn't say thank you, and the Honor Flight that f...
I Just Wanted to Play Ball | John Ross (Part 1)
At 7 or 8 years old, my uncle John Ross was driving the grain truck, sitting on Sears catalogs so he could see over the dash. All he really wanted was to play ball. In Part 1, John takes us back to farm life in the '50s and '60s, meeting Angie ...
The Privilege of Growing Up Poor | Mel Bosserman
Ever been told to get off the sleigh and run behind it? Mel Bosserman has. Mel grew up with little money and plenty of work, and he was "appointed" to run the combine at just 12 years old. Listen for his comeback in algebra class. He calls it t...
Still Saying Yes to Adventure | Milo Thompson
In 1971, Milo Thompson was a shy guy who had never been farther than Fargo. Two hours before the plane left, someone talked him into a trip to Europe, and he's been saying yes to adventure ever since. Listen for the MG roadster that somehow cam...
The Giggling Girl at 94 | Magdalene Dolyniuk
At 94, Magdalene Dolyniuk still has the giggle everyone knows her for. Wait until you hear about the Killdeer rodeo: a car taken without asking, a carload of kids (and a baby!), pop bottles cashed in for gas money, and a mom who didn't find out...
Someday You'll Laugh About This | Joanne Tescher
In Joanne Tescher's hometown, the whistle ran the day: 7 a.m., noon, 6 p.m., and the 10 o'clock curfew. Joanne takes us back to small-town life, when everybody knew your business and your folks always knew where you were. And her wedding day? L...
A Pet Pig, a Piano and Nine Kids | Tammy Simnioniw
How does a little white pig named Arnold end up at the church bazaar? My mother-in-law, Tammy Simnioniw, grew up one of nine kids on a farm, with a mom who could make the piano sing. She shares the hard work and the fun of a big farm family, pl...
Ole and Lena Were My Folks | Swenda Braden
If you've ever been on the wrong end of a good prank, you're going to love Huey. Swenda Braden had me laughing start to finish, from bikes that ended up in trees to a load of junk paid back in kind. She also takes us back to a farmhouse where y...
Ration Stamps and Blizzard Winters | Mert & Rella (Part 2)
At their country school north of Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, their mom, the teacher, baked potatoes in the ash pan of the stove, and the kids could smell them for an hour before lunch. In Part 2, sisters Mert Popiel and Rella Abernethy take m...
Two Sisters, Three Rooms, Six Kids | Mert & Rella (Part 1)
With no electricity on the farm north of Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, Mom made chocolate milk and lowered it down the well in a pail to get it cold. Sisters Mert Popiel, 92, and Rella Abernethy, 88, were both born upstairs over the grocery sto...
Banana Splits and a Blizzard Wedding | Sherry Zachmann
Every year, Sherry Zachmann's big family throws a Weenie Fest in honor of her mom, Viola, whose dad nicknamed her "Weenie." Sherry grew up between the farm south of Golva and an old Beach, North Dakota house that used to be a hospital. She tell...