StoryCorps Chicago: ‘He Had Such A Major Impact On Our Lives’

By Bill Healy
A photo of five people sitting on a building stoop.
Mike Whealan, Bill Mulchrone, Margaret Houlihan Smith, Bill Becker and Jamie Lawler. Courtesy of Mike Whealan
A photo of five people sitting on a building stoop.
Mike Whealan, Bill Mulchrone, Margaret Houlihan Smith, Bill Becker and Jamie Lawler. Courtesy of Mike Whealan

StoryCorps Chicago: ‘He Had Such A Major Impact On Our Lives’

By Bill Healy
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Jamie Butterfield was 16 when he was killed in Chicago’s North Beverly neighborhood in 1981. Mike Whealan and Margaret Houlihan Smith befriended Jamie as neighbors and classmates at Christ the King School. Now 40 years after Jamie’s death, a devoted group of friends has come together to honor him in an unusual way. Mike and Margaret spoke to each other about the project and their friend’s life and death.

Special thanks to Bill Figel.

This interview was facilitated by StoryCorps Chicago’s Rocio Santos.

Bill Healy produces StoryCorps Chicago for WBEZ and teaches journalism at Northwestern University. A podcast he produced was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting. Follow him @chicagoan.