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In the spring of 2002, Dave Isay gave Adrian Nicole LeBlanc a recorder to tape her father, Adrian Leon LeBlanc, who was in the final stages of lung cancer. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc began to record him in the fall of 2002; she taped more frequently once he entered hospice care in January and continued until his death on March 21, 2003. Each time Adrian Nicole visited her father, she brought along the recorder, wanting to capture their conversations and document their relationship in the final months of his life. She didn't know if she'd ever listen to the tapes again but felt it was important to preserve his voice. Her father readily agreed to be part of it.

After her father's death, LeBlanc put aside the tapes and didn't listen to them for a year and a half. Then, Sound Portraits asked her if she wanted to do anything with the recordings. LeBlanc and producer Sarah Kramer started to listen to the tapes and to work together to shape the story. Kramer edited down more than 50 hours of tape, and she recorded interviews with LeBlanc about her father to guide the narrative. LeBlanc then wrote more than 70 pages on her father. Over the course of the next year, they worked together to winnow down the tape and the narration to the 13-minute documentary The Ground We Lived On.

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This piece is available in the following audio formats [11:31 min]:
		56 kbps Real Audio

		intro
		transcript

		Bios
		A Note on the Story
		Adrian Leon LeBlanc's Obituary
		Adrian Leon LeBlanc's Army Discharge Papers
		Photos of the LeBlanc Family
		Audio Extras
		Resources
		An article by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
		Q&A with Adrian Nicole LeBlanc: A Journalist Grapples with Grief
		Q&A with 'The Ground We Lived On' Producer Sarah Kramer

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