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A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Time now for StoryCorps. Seventy-two-year-old Naomi "Nonie" Lynn spent much of her life fighting for LGBTQ rights. About 10 years ago, she was diagnosed with agoraphobia, and that fear of public places kept her home until Air Force veteran Mandy Lashay volunteered to help.
MANDY LASHAY: I thought I was just going to come over and maybe change a couple of light bulbs, and then I realized you were a foul-mouthed lesbian as well, and we just hit it off.
NAOMI LYNN: We can talk about anything, and I have something to look forward to now. Being agoraphobic and not leaving your house - I can't explain how horrifically lonely it is. But Fridays are my day that I have sunshine. It's a day that I have laughter in my life. And you are that sunshine, and you are that light.
LASHAY: I had no idea what I was going to do before I met you. I got out of active duty in 2019. I'm disabled, and I was struggling really bad. So you just put this little light in my life, too, that I didn't even know that I needed. You always want to do the right thing. You always want to help somebody. You're just so good, Nonie.
LYNN: My grandmother was a little old country grandma, but she was a brilliant woman, and probably the most beneficial advice she ever gave me is you don't ever look down at somebody unless you're giving them a hand up. When I was in fourth grade, there was a little girl from an extremely poor family. She had one dress and she wore that all the time. She smelled, and she stunk. And one day, there were three boys pushing her around, winking at her. And she was sobbing and terrified. And I beat the [expletive] out of all three of those boys.
LASHAY: (Laughter).
LYNN: About 20 years later, she came to my daddy's office with her husband, and they had named their first little girl Naomi. So - and I'm not advocating beating people up, but those actions of mine made a permanent impact on her life. And just the fact that you spend time with this old lady, I have to think that somehow there's a little bit of karma. Maybe me beating those three little boys brought you in my life.
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LASHAY: Well, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere.
LYNN: You don't know how it makes me feel to belong to somebody. You're my baby girl.
LASHAY: Thank you. That means the world coming from somebody like you. And you are just as special to me.
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MARTÍNEZ: That's Mandy Lashay with Naomi Lynn for StoryCorps in Tampa, Florida. Their conversation is archived at the Library of Congress. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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