Received Dec 1, 2005 from Gloria Dik Hudson Your web site was recommended to me by my sister and seeing the magnificent hospital again brought a flood of childhood memories to me. My father was a physician on the staff and the most happiest years of my childhood were spent while living at J. N. Adam Hospital. Our final year there was spent living in Building B after having lived 2 years on the second floor of the Main Building [Administration Building]. I attended school in the little three room school house, which has now been converted into the Perrysburg Town Hall. The area which is now the forest contained a huge orchard containing cherry, plum, and apple [3 kinds] trees. I loved to roam the acres under the trees during the summer and pick the fruit hanging on the lower branches. The hospital contains trillions of beautiful memories as well as all the memories of the small village of Perrysburg. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Gloria Dik Hudson, Houston, Texas Received Dec 27, 2005 from Gloria Dik Hudson Larry - I never miss the opportunity to talk about my life in Perrysburg and since you've encouraged me to do so, I shall. Near Bldg. B was a combination ski slide and tobaggon slide where my classmates from the school would join me in playing in the snow. There was a swing set directly in front of Bldg. B and the top portion of it is caught in the photo on the web site. When we lived at Bldg. B there was a front porch which we enjoyed all summer long. There was another Bldg. near Bldg. B and it was called Bldg. A the childrens building. It was fairly large and could house about 24 or 25 children of all ages. Directly behind it was the remnants of a zoo for small animal that the children enjoyed. However, the animals died off as the patients had the habit of putting their sputum cups in the cages and therefore, the animals developed tuberculosis and died. The main building was luxury in itself. Often my sister and I would relieve at the switchboard while the regular operator had a break. Our father, Dr. Dik had a regular radio program that was broadcast to all the patients and he would give all kinds of news of the day, health tips and always jokes. The dining room was par excellence. It was almost comparable to a dining room at the Waldorf. We had our own waitress, Mary Shea, who made it a point to know our likes and dislikes of food. There were immaculately clean tablecloths and napkins on the tables and the waitresses uniforms were spotless. During holiday time such as Christmas, etc. the dining room was decorated and often on Sunday there were small bunches of flowers on the tables. Our table was the very first one as you entered the room and Dr. Wagner, our neighbor was over on the right side. Toward the back were the tables belonging to Dr. O'Donnell, Dr. Taylor and in the very rear corner was Dr. Truedell. Dr. O'Donnell was the hospital dentist and lived directly across the hall from our apartment in the main building. Dr. Taylor was the opthamologist and lived down the hall. Dr. Alice Chalen was director of nurses and her staff was magnificent. Always starched uniforms, white shoes and white stockings. Never any wrinkles allowed. The laboratory was in the basement and the lab tech was Mr. Ed Daugherty who, when the hospital closed, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and I had the pure delight of meeting him again about a decade later. The fish pond in front of the main entrance contained beautiful lily pads and tropical fish which my father enjoyed watching when he had a spare moment. I was the youngest resident in the hospital and everyone doted on me. I would take my bike to the men in the Power Plant and they always fixed the chain, adjusted the seat and kept the tires full of air. I had service by the hospital car to take me to and from school on days of very bad weather. At school Mr. Earl Cross was principal and teacher. He was a very tall, slender man and a delight to listen to. In the school the grades were divided thus: one room had grades 1, 2; another classroom had grades 3, 4, 5 and in the classroom in the center [at the top of the stairs] were grades 6, 7, 8. There were 5 kids in my grades and I learned a whole lot because I could always listen to the work for the next grade and by the time I passed on to the next grade, I was familiar with the work. The drive from Perrysburg village up to beautiful JN Adam was the most magnificent I have ever seen and as I am now 73 years old, can truthfully say, I have never seen another like it. Tall evergreen trees lined both sides of the road and in the fall the other color of the trees behind these evergreen were every color of red, gold, and brown. Then when snow fell and it did lots of that in those days, the evergreen branches would gently bow to the earth under the weight of the snow. It was a winter wonderland Hollywood would have loved to capture. These are just a very few of the memories I have and I would gladly talk more but I don't really know how much is of interest to you. One thing, there was a reservoir at the rear of the hospital property just beyond the hospital itself. Sometimes the reservoir would freeze over but not freeze solid enough to skate on. Is it still there? Sincerest regards for answering my first email, Gloria Dik Hudson Larry - I was so interested in talking about the hospital I completely forgot to tell you about the village. That quaint area has some stories all its own. Here are a few: The trees lining Main Street were all maple and were tapped every year. It was fascinating to see buckets hanging on each tree to catch the syrup. There was an old cider mill near the railroad tracks junction. We could bring the apples we snitched from the hospital orchard and take them to the mill and they would press them into cider. This was especially good during Halloween time. There was only one general store. It was named Graves' store and located next to the Post Office. Graves' store was owned by the parents of a girl I went to school with, Anne Graves. Thanks for reading my emails. It was good to type these thoughts and if I think of anything more, you can rest assured I'll send them along. Regards, Gloria Dik Hudson Received Dec 28, 2005 from Gloria Dik Hudson Larry - Some more nostalgia - 1. When entering the lobby at the Main Building one could see a large portrait of James Noble Adam, founder of the hospital. He was a very distinguished looking gentleman with snowy white hair, goatee, and pince-nez glasses perched on his nose. 2. In front of the Main Bldg. across from the traffic circle was a flag pole and next to it was a canon from the War of 1812. I enjoyed playing there in the summer. 3. When the U. S. declared war in 1941, an efigy of Pres. Franklin Roosevelt was hung upside down from the flag pole. It was discovered later this act was done by the German-American Bund group that was active in Perrysburg. There were many German families in the village who were active in this group. 4. The hospital was a self-sustaining community and on the outskirts of the village was a large farm that maintained cows for the hospital's milk and grew vegetables. The farm was closed before we left. 5. On the second floor of the Main Bldg. at the opposite end of the hall from our apartment was a Guest Suite reserved for visiting dignitaries from Buffalo. It was lavishly decorated and always locked. 6. The patients dining room was adjacent to the staff dining room and large enough for about 150 ambulatory patients. This is where entertainment took place on Friday nights. On special occasions some non-ambulatory patients were rolled in their beds to view the show. Movies were shown @ two times on Friday evening and the children were allowed to see the early show. 7. Patients in Bldg. B were terminal in duration and never came to the entertainment in the Main Bldg. Patients in Bldg. B. seldom lasted longer than a year or two. 8. These same patients had a small "Victory Garden" near the ski/tobaggon slide. 9. As I rethink those childhood memories I may have erred in saying I picked plums from the orchard. They could have been prunes. I am only positive there were 3 kinds of fruit and they were apples and cherries but the third kind is a bit hazy. 10. One of the pictures on the web site which shows the tall trees and a small portion of the incline of a slight hill approaching the main area of the hospital, I believe was taken from a corner of the 2nd floor balcony of the Main Bldg. The design of the railing on the balcony is identical to the porch area where I spent many hours having afternoon tea with my dolls. 11. The first Christmas at J.N.Adam Hospital was truly exciting for me. It was very lavish with a huge tree in the center of the patients dining room, stockings for everyone filled with candy and fruit; gifts of cosmetics were given to the ladies and gifts of shaving supplies were given to the men. Of course Santa distributed the gifts to the individual rooms for the patients who were unable to come to the dining room. He also visited all the children in Bldg. A. In closing, gentlemen, I want to again thank you for your efforts in attempting to save this beautiful area of the environment. It is difficult to describe it as completely as it was - inside and out. One had to live it. I wish your organization maximum success as we need all the area possible for our fragile environment because it is rapidly being destroyed. Sincerest regards, Gloria Dik Hudson   back to Letters