A few weeks ago, Laura Heffernan brought her 90-year-old mother, Elizabeth Heffernan, to the StoryCorps booth at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Laura is the youngest of Elizabeth’s eleven children. Elizabeth Heffernan looked back on her years of raising children and talked about how her outlook on some important social issues has changed over the years.

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.