He heard the story. That was more than 15 years ago. However, this story of love, loss, and recovery is indelible in the memory of best-selling author Jason Reynolds. He thinks about it at least once a month.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” Reynolds told 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell. “I can remember every moment.”
The story belongs to Gary Lakin, his late wife Sonya, and his good friend Allison Oleszkowicz.
In 1999, Gary, a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Coast Guard, met and later married Sonya Lyall. About two months after the wedding Sonya was diagnosed with a rare cancer. The cancer then disappeared after treatment.
Sonya has always dreamed of having children and according to Gary is willing to sacrifice her own physical well-being for the chance to become a mother. He tells about the process of in vitro fertilization and the joy he and Sonya felt when they conceived naturally.
On April 24, 2004, Sonya had a son named Kai. His only child. Less than a year later his cancer returned and he died of the disease.
In the week after Sonya’s death, Gary was joined in Virginia Beach by Allison, who traveled from her native Canada to help take care of Kai. Their relationship developed and in November 2006 the couple decided to record their conversation with StoryCorps.
“This is a way to pay tribute to Sonya and tell her story that I think is important,” Allison Oleszkowicz told 60 Minutes Overtime. “Because our lives and stories are intertwined, it also gives Gary and I a way to move forward from grief and hope for a future together.”
StoryCorps is a non-profit organization founded in 2003 by radio journalist Dave Isay, who had a simple but powerful idea that everyone’s story should be heard and preserved. Gary and Allison can’t tell when the session will have an impact on the person facilitating it. Before becoming a famous storyteller, Jason Reynolds worked for StoryCorps after graduating from the University of Maryland.
“You have to watch the relationships and you can see them change,” Reynolds told 60 Minutes about his experience facilitating StoryCorps sessions. “What… the relationship is solidifying (or) the relationship is liquefying. One of them can happen, and you don’t know which one will get. And I even said that, what a gift is allowed to see something extraordinary like that.”
Reynolds facilitated close to 300 sessions during the 18 months she worked at StoryCorps. Many stories are forgotten, but the stories of Gary, Sonya, and Allison stay with them. With the 60 Minutes cameras rolling, the award-winning author smiled and nodded as she listened to the part of the recording that ended in a moment of surprise, for both her and Allison: Gary proposed.
Gary Lakin and Allison Oleszkowicz were married in October 2007 and have two more children whom Kai is raising.
“Kai is a senior in high school who is getting ready to graduate and has a great relationship with his two sisters,” Allison Oleszkowicz-Lakin told 60 Minutes Overtime IN 2022. “It’s a great life. We’ve been very lucky.”
“There’s something to be said for good things,” Reynolds said after hearing the story. “This is a terrible thing for these people. This terrible loss. But … there is always another chance … There is always a time for love, and a time for peace, and a time to make things right … That these two said, ‘You know what, we lost, and we gained. And I think there’s something… That’s the way I want to think about my life.’
You can listen to Gary and Allison’s full StoryCorps 2006 session here.
The video above was originally published on January 9, 2022 and was produced by Keith Zubrow and Sarah Shafer Prediger. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger. Keith Sharman contributed to the story.
