General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

2  PLAC 112
2  SOUR S332582
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: 14 Jan 2004


[daveanthes.FTW]

Sources of information include:
   The journal  "The Way We Were" written by  Luella. M (Klein) Schwalen (lms)
pg 43
"On November 13, 1931, Betty Lou was born in the Holy Family Hospital in Manitowoc.  I want to say, categorically, I have never seen a hospital before or since where the patients were treated with so much consideration and given such excellent care. The nuns were conscientious of our needs and tolerant of our whims, such as bringing us hot chocolate in the middle of the night.  It seems inconceivable
to me there was no inference to Len or I that Betty Lou was other than a perfectly normal child.  The obstetrician was one of the best in the area and surely he must have known she was a blue baby.
   Betty Lou became more and more active as she got older and I commenced to notice she was easily exhausted and would cry after playing for a few minutes. Len and I took her to see the better of the two local doctors. After a cursory examination and talking to us for about five minutes he said,  This baby is not going to live to be a year old. Take her home. There is nothing I can do for her. Neither Len nor I could believe what we heard.  We could not convince ourselves that he knew what he was saying and took her to the other doctor.  The second doctor was a friend of Len's parents and a bit more kind in his attitude, but his verdict was the same.  However,  he gave me some medicine to use when Betty Lou had a heart attack and explained to me how to alleviate their severity. From that time on, Betty Lou demanded and got unlimited attention. Although she was always underweight, she was a very
pretty child and a casual observer would not detect she was not perfectly normal.  She could creep across the room but she did not have the strength to get up on her feet

pg 45
"Before Geralds first birthday,  he commenced to walk. Up to that time, Betty Lou had never done much
more than walk around a piece of furniture, but upon seeing him taking off by himself, she immediately did the same thing.  We had not encouraged her to walk for fear it would aggravate her heart condition, but it did not. However, it led to her going farther from the house than usual and then she was unable to return.  I had to carry her back.  How can one explain to a three year old child so she will understand? "

pg 47
"Gerald went off to school and it was a traumatic experience for Betty Lou. To keep her happy, I taught her to do simple sewing, embroidering and provided her with pencils, coloring books and taught her to read. She resigned herself to being home; having the smaller girls home with her helped us through the long winters. In the summer, she did her best to keep up with the rest of the children, many times exerting herself past her endurance.  When she cried, I dropped everything to go to her. Carrying her in my arms I walked around the yard, hoping and praying the blueness would leave her face and she would recover just one more time. Gerald cooperated in an amazing manner and helped out by taking the girls in the wagon when they went to play at a neighbor's house.  In the winter, he pulled them on the sled. More than once, the mothers told me how careful he was to check out each sister to be sure they had on their mittens and overshoes and that all zippers were properly closed before he took them out into the cold and headed for home.
It was very aggravating when total strangers commented that Betty received preferential treatment over the younger kids.  On a trip to the dentist, I had Betty Lou and Gerald with me. We had a long stairs to climb and I knew I had to carry her while Gerald was not much more than old enough to climb from one step to the next. Two men passed us and made derisive remarks to the effect that mothers always favored girls while boys were left to fend for themselves. While I was hurt by the remarks, I realized there was no way they knew any different since Betty Lou appeared perfectly normal most times.  Close inspection revealed otherwise because her fingernails were always blue. She grew in stature but was always very thin.  She had lovely blonde curly hair. In the face of all her difficulties, Len and I exercise cautious discipline. We had no intention of raising a monster, and tried to treat her the same as the
others.

pg 53
"I had been at the station only a short time when the phone rang and it was the baby-sitter.  She was having trouble getting Betty Lou to go to bed. Len closed the station and we went right home. When I talked to Betty Lou she had trouble telling me why she did not want to go to bed. When she began a sentence, she could not find the words to finish. Len called the doctors office and Dr. F stopped in a short while later. He could find nothing alarming about her condition and she had improved to some extent since Len and I first got home. The doctor was about ready to leave when Betty Lou had a mild convulsion.  We took her to the hospital. Dr. F thought she might have spinal meningitis and took various tests but they turned out negative. After Dr. W examined her, he told Len it was her heart and it was doubtful that she would recover.
During the two weeks she was in the hospital, Bess came to stay with the rest of the kids and I spent most of the days and nights at her bedside. After the first few days, she became weaker and soon lost interest in eating and wakened only enough to know that I was in the room.  She slipped into a coma and died on October 22, 1940, three weeks short of her ninth birthday.  She had been born on a Friday and she was buried on a Friday, at Amery.
The people of Amery could not have been more thoughtful. They sent floral gifts and offered to help in any way we asked and the merchants collected a sizable sun of money. We used the money to buy a headstone since Betty Lou's insurance more than covered the hospital and funeral expenses. The undertaker called to tell me that the children around town were coming in to see Betty Lou because she was such a pretty girl. He wanted me not to come in without letting him know so he could keep them away.  The lady who was Betty Lou's Sunday school teacher ordered a fresh rosebud each day to be put in her hand. These many kindnesses helped to sustain us during the difficult days."