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Unlikely Friendships and a Musical Miracle: Heartwarming Stories of 2018

Courtesy of Patrik Emmert

 

An act of kindness can make you smile, warm your heart, or even change your life. On this hour of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe talks with five Iowans who share their stories.

Patrik Emmert of Des Moines makes music from a yard nuisance by turning branches of a downed tree in the family’s backyard into a one-of-a-kind boxelder wood violin for his daughter Natalee.

Years after leaving prison Jamie Ross maintains a friendship with a woman who changed her life behind bars.

Pat Kinney, Korean War Content Development Specialist at the Grout Museum in Waterloo, rallied his colleagues and other veterans to find and fund long term housing for a World War II veteran down on his luck just before the holiday season.

And Shirley Wang discusses how an unlikely relationship between her father and basketball star Charles Barkley impacted her relationship with her father in his final days, and lead to a radio story that touched people across the globe.

 

Katelyn Harrop is a producer for IPR's River to River and Talk of Iowa
Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa