As members of “The Greatest Generation” become fewer and fewer, many feel a real need to make a record of the past and the history that may be forgotten. Storycorps is an organization dedicated to providing people with a platform to make those records, and when Hixson resident Robert Cyphers heard about it, he immediately stepped up to organize something.
Beryl Vandergriff has been a resident of Hixson her entire life, dating back to 1921. During the interview, which is available for listening at storycorps.me/interviews/ms-beryl-vandergriff, she discussed the growth of Hixson from when she remembers taking the train into Chattanooga before the interstate system connected the surrounding municipalities.
“She was so sharp, and the stories were very personal and funny,” said Cyphers. “The crowd just loved it.”
The interview, which took place at Chatt-R-Bug variety and antiques store, attracted a crowd of about 20 people to listen to Vandergriff talk. Cyphers said the event went so well that he’s looking into the possibility of interviewing Vandergriff again.
“We’ve talked about doing it again with her, but we also want to interview other people, too,” Cyphers said. “So many people have wisdom from age and experience, and I think it should be shared.”
Storycorps has been trying to catalog interviews from veterans of World War II for years. However, in the last few years, they’ve opened up the process to enable people to conduct their own interviews to gather more stories than the team could alone. These interviews are then logged in the Library of Congress.
Cyphers is a big fan of the recording process, saying he believes it’s important to get the stories archived in such a format.
“You can find records on just about anything, but the one thing you don’t have is their voice,” he said. “Hearing these people tell their stories makes a big difference.”