Recently my cousin sent me a copy of an obituary of one of my great grandparents from the Blue Hill Leader Newspaper of 1949. On the same page, an article regarding a Polio Meeting in Red Cloud, Nebraska caught my eye.The article brought back a lot of memories of growing up in the 1950's. Being an Air Force Brat - anytime there was a new vaccine the Air Force medical team would set up an area in the school or in the base gymnasium to administer the shots. Picture this - several hundred children - standing in line with their mothers - knowing they were going to get a shot. Oh boy - not much fun for anyone. And of course the closer you got to the head of the line - the more you could hear the ones in front of you screaming and crying, which of course made it much worse.
I also remember the little milk cartons that were distributed by the March of Dimes. We carried them with us on Halloween to collect pennies in - and then turned them in at school. The pennies were used to research a cure for polio and the help the thousands of polio victims. It was a horrible disease that crippled many children.
I remember Sabin Sunday in 1960, when we lined up for the vaccine that would protect us from polio. Scared of yet another shot for a disease a child could not understand. What a pleasant surprise it was when we found out there were no needles - just a cube of sugar! As the old Mary Poppins song goes - "Just a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down!" Wouldn't it be wonderful if all of life's woes could be cured with a simple lump of sugar.
Thank you Mr. Sabin for that Sunday - 49 years ago!
Thank you Mr. Sabin for that Sunday - 49 years ago!
WOW, you brought back alot of memories that were tucked inside the back of my brain with this blog! One of my brothers actually got polio, so I was getting shots to prevent it. I do remember those little milk cartons for the March of Dimes and going door to door on Washington Drive collecting the coins. Weren't they orange?
ReplyDeleteNow that brings back memories. I remember going to the local fire station to get our medicine. We got ours in a little cup and it tasted like cherries. My cousin had polio when he was a kid (he turns 60 next month!) and was a March of Dimes poster child (also known as Timmy's child).
ReplyDeleteI do remember the switchover to sugar cubes. For my classmates and me, it was like a national holiday!
ReplyDeleteI started reading your blog to find a way to contact you about the restoration comment you left on my blog and wow! I love it here!! Very nice!
ReplyDeleteOh, what I needed to contact you about: give me a holler (janine at landailyn.com) or landailyn on Twitter, please?
Terri, I left you a little something over on my blog ;- )
ReplyDelete"http://lindasflipside.blogspot.com/2009/05/unbelieveable-award.html
Terri,
ReplyDeleteI have chosen you to receive the "One Lovely Blog" Award, you can pick it up at my blog Genealogy Fun.
Terri,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to stop in and say that I love your blog. I just can't get enough of the colorized photos and mysteries you tell.