On this episode of Our American Stories, when Roger Latham was handed a few handwritten pages years after his mother’s death, he did not expect them to change the way he understood her, or himself. Written in pencil and tucked away without intention of publication, the poem revealed a depth and inner life he never knew she possessed.

In this moving story, Roger reflects on discovering his mother’s hidden gift for poetry, and his daughter Candy reads “Hands” by Gladys Latham, a quiet meditation on work, sacrifice, faith, and love. It is a story about inheritance, masculinity, memory, and how a parent’s voice can reach us long after they are gone.

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