Story Corps

John Nordeen and Kay Lee served in the same Army platoon during the Vietnam War. Nordeen and Lee had very different personalities, but in the life-or-death setting of war, the two bonded. Nordeen, a soldier from Seattle, was one of the first people that Lee, a combat medic from San Francisco, talked to. But after the war, they lost touch.

To some observers, many people take jobs in Yakima with a two-year plan in mind. That was the case for Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital's CEO, Rick…