Marty Winefield grew up in Chicago and Evanston, and his dad was absent for a lot of his childhood. Winefield recently came to the Chicago StoryCorps booth in the Cultural Center downtown to talk with his girlfriend Sara Frank about his father’s influence in his young life, and later.

StoryCorps’ mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to share, record and preserve their stories. These excerpts, edited by WBEZ, present some of our favorites from the current visit, as well as from previous trips.