z Olden Days Darn near croaked at 10 days of age

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Like my two older brothers, Bob and Jim, and sister Theresa, I was born at home on the farm. Dr. Ivan K. Sayre who had his office in St. Charles delivered me on New Year’s Day, not long before midnight according to my mother. There were very few hospital babies back before the 1940s, particularly in rural areas. Generally, a neighbor lady came in to help with the birthing process — hot water, clean towels and all that stuff. Mom’s good friend Berniece Berning, who later became Mrs. Lawrence Schoulte, was there to help on that cold New Year’s night at our house. The big pot bellied stove in our dining room where I was born was probably filled with wood to the top and red hot. Everything went all right, I guess. My temporary baby bed was a dresser drawer for some reason. Maybe Bob, Theresa or Jim wore the first one out, or maybe it was out on loan. By the 10th day, I had developed a bad cold, which turned into pneumonia. Doc Sayre was called to our house at night from St. Charles, probably after the home remedies weren’t working. According to Mom, he took my temperature which was 106 degrees. Next thing he did was pick me right up and take me out on the front porch in the sub zero weather to cool me off. The thermometer read 10 degrees below 0. The pneumonia and my temperature were apparently pretty severe for him to take these drastic steps. They used to do those kind of things. The outcome, I died. No, not really. I did survive. But all during my childhood, I was quite susceptible to severe chest colds and bronchitis. This was undoubtedly due to weakened lungs from the first bout of pneumonia. In grade school, I’d be home from school for days on end with bronchitis. I would get my chest and back smeared with Vicks Vap-O-Rub and Mom would make me put Vicks on my finger and poke it down my throat. Guess this also was supposed to help. There also was a little “tent” that would be constructed of newspapers around a pan of boiling hot water that you poked your head inside, while Vicks melted in the form of a vapor which you breathed in. I hated this but apparently it helped. Another good home remedy for colds was mullein plant, picked out of the farm pasture in the summer and cooked on the old kitchen stove. Water and sugar was added to form an extract. It didn’t taste too bad, but not too good either. Skunk grease made from rendering a freshly skinned skunk was also a good ointment to rub on the back and the chest, according to old timers. We had our own can of it, placed on the top shelf of the cupboards outside the pantry, along with the Watkins Liniment and also Watkins Petro-Carbo Salve. I still have the last can of that salve. As an adult, I have continued to have bouts with pneumonia. When we lived on East Thirteenth Street North in Belmont Park, I had a real good bout. I was in bed well over a week, maybe two. I well remember that because I went over years of Newton Manufacturing Sales Bulletins and clipped out the “Timeless Topics” which related to good selling ideas and philosophy. I had loaned the initial three-ring binder out several times to others in the office to read over and apparently it got misplaced or completely lost. I’ve had a number of spells of walking pneumonia somewhat ignoring those chest colds that went right down into the lungs and really hurt. Severely short of breath, a sweat and just a little dizzy. But, somehow I’ve survived.