What were you doing when.....

[historybuff22]

This is NOT a JFK assassination post, BUT it is highly historical.

In 1980 I was an orthopedic technician in a 500 bed hospital. The 7th floor was the orthopedic ward. However, if a child had an orthopedic problem it went to the pediatric ward on the 3rd floor. One night I was looking over the patient list for the orthopedic ward. On the list of patients was a 4-year-old girl BUT she was in the adult orthopedic ward. Going to the nurses station I grabbed her chart and discovered that she was actually 104-years-old!!! (This was before Y2K.) She had broken her hip. She was sharp as a tack and had been living alone since her husband died 40 years ago! She started collecting Social Security in 1941!!!! Her 81-year-old son took her to doctor's appointment's shopping etc.

She was so amazing that I spent most of my down time visiting with her. She was born on the day of the Custer Massacre - June 25, 1876. One of my favorite questions to ask "older" people is who is the first president you can recall from life rather than from a history book? She answered Benjamin Harrison when she was 13. However, her most memorable president was William McKinley because she was there when McKinley was assassinated and witnessed the entire episode live!!!

Another favorite question to ask "senior citizens" is what amazed them the most in their lifetime. I suspected that her's would be witnessing the McKinley assassination. Her reply to my question really put things in perspective for me. She answered that as a child there was only 3 methods of transportation - walking, a horse, or a train. She had gone from her walking on Earth to a man walking on the Moon!!!

I truly loved spending hours visiting with her. Unfortunately, I did not record her stories to me or even make notes. Now, I wish that I had!!!

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
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