Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com
Transcripts
In this episode of Minute with Marlin, Marlin traces the origins of the podcast all the way back to when his dad died, 15 years ago.
A few months after Marlin’s dad passed, he, his brother, and his mom visited Arthur, IL for a large family reunion. Inevitably at some point, the stories of his dad began to flow, and Marlin wished the day would never end.
Marlin’s vision when he began the podcast in 2025 was to recreate that day of storytelling and connection, so stories and moments like those could live on. It became wildly clear how real that vision was soon after he sat down in the studio with his uncle “Monk” along with some cousins to record a four-hour conversation. Unexpectedly, just three weeks later, they lowered Monk into the ground and said goodbye.
This is why the Plain Values Podcast exists. Capturing the stories for the next generations. If you have a story worth capturing, send us an email at reachout@plainvalues.com.
My dad died about 15 years ago, and a few months after he passed, I took my mom and my brother out to Arthur, Illinois for a huge reunion. So we get out there a couple of months after dad passed away, and at some point in time, the storytelling broke out. And let me tell you, it was just it was so good for me. It was healing. It was it was just this beautiful thing, and I didn’t want it to end. Well, we came home and we adopted a few more kids. We started the magazine Probably two years ago when the Lord kind of, you know, shoved the podcast idea down my down my throat. I was building the walls and we were putting this whole thing together, and we had this equipment. Well, I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. I’m an idiot half the time. And so I called a friend of mine and I said, dude, will you be my guinea pig for the podcast? And he said, no, I don’t want to. I don’t want to be that guy. But he said, I did think. He said, I just remembered a friend of his had just said goodbye to his mom, and I think that was like six months before. And this guy told my friend, he said I would give anything to go back and put mom in front of a microphone and a camera and have her tell me stories and have her, you know, be be able to ask the questions of what were we like and, and what was your life like? And he missed that chance. And all of a sudden, that reunion 13 years before passed back into my memory. And it actually came screaming back to mind. And I told my wife, I said, I want to try to recreate that reunion, that storytelling thing. And so May 13th of of last year of 2025. We sat here for four hours. I had my dad’s brother, monk, Monroe, monk, and then four of their cousins, and we sat here for four hours and told stories, and it was wonderful. Three weeks later, we buried monk. We lowered him into the ground and said goodbye. And those four hours have now become crazy. Just it’s such a treasure to to have that with him being on camera, telling the stories, just being part of of the family history, that’s what I want this studio to be about. That’s what I want plain values to be about capturing the stories for the next generation or next generations that so many times just disappear into thin air. So again, if you have any story that you think our audience and I would care to hear, send us an email at “reachout@ plainvalues.com”
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