During the mid-1980s a deaf couple, Gene and Inez Petersen, set out to meet, document, and eventually to publish the life stories of ordinary and extraordinary deaf Americans. Traveling across the country, they conducted videotaped interviews with over 160 people. Among some of those featured: Edna Adler, Yerker Anderson, Leon Auerbach, David L. Bloch, Bob Davila and Leo M. Jacobs.
Gene and Inez Peterson were tragically killed in a car accident in 1989, before their work could be completed. Prior to their untimely death, Gene had given the manuscript to several of his colleagues for review and feedback. Sue Foster, a member of the Department of Research and Teacher Education at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and one of the coordinators of this project, was privileged to be one of these colleagues.