Last month, Jim Perkins came to the Chicago StoryCorps booth with his former teacher, Paul Nilsen. Nilsen is eighty-three now, and retired, but in 1986, he was the principal of Central Middle School in suburban Wilmette. One day, parents Mary Lou and Tom Graziano, whose son John was a student at the school, came in to tell Nilsen their son was sick.

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.