I found this site after watching a documentary on Waverly Sanitorium and it spurred my thoughts of Perrysburg and the three years I was hospitalized there at the age of 7 along with my mother and my 2 yr. old brother. The time I spent in Perrysburg has never left my memories and parts of it are very clear. I remember the building my brother and I stayed in was separated from my mother so I became very protective of my little brother from day one....it was a building with two large dorm type rooms all enclosed by French Doors and all our beds were metal crib type with some type of metal clip hanging at the foot of the bed from the rail...it had our name and other information....every day we were wheeled out on to the patio and we were instructed to lay on our backs and then our stomachs each being timed under the sun. There was a room at one end of the building where I went to school and the other end of the building was I believe where I did arts and crafts and where we were allowed to go out on the swings...I remember a beautiful area of woods that I had never seen from being raised in the city of Buffalo and there were chipmunks and all different beautiful birds that I would draw because I loved to draw and color...particularly the Blue Jay and the Red Headed Woodpecker. I remember two special nurses, and I may be wrong but their names were Mrs. North and Mrs. Bee...Mrs. North was a shorter stocky woman who was always giving me and my brother hugs that we needed so very much at that time, especially my brother who was so young....Mrs. Bee was a tall thin Red Headed nurse with fair freckled skin but quite pretty in her own way and she was kind as well. I remember each of the children having a shoe box with our names on it that was kept in the office where we could put any candy or little personal things because we didn't have our own room or furniture. I remember there were individual rooms on both ends of the building where some of the older kids stayed and some of the more serious cases stayed, but I am not sure if that was the case. I remember one room in particular where they layed you on a table, wrapped you in a sheet and put a tube down your throat that would go into the chest and they would take fluid out for testing....it was very frightening experience and unforgettable too. I remember the big dining area with french doors all around the room and we all sat at round tables....I did not like alot of the food, especially the rhubarb, cottage cheese and the hash and I would put it in my napkin along with some of the other kids who did the same. I remember my baby brother was a very poor eater and he would sit in his highchair and be the last one to leave and I would constantly watch over him. I used to pull him around the hospital in a red wagon and he loved that. I remember the Sunday visitation to go see our Mom in the Chapel across the winding roads and how much I wanted to have her hold me but she couldn't because of this disease. I remember how the Shriners had parades for us and we would sit our on the grass and watch them and they came every holiday with gifts for each child. I remember my older sisters coming to see us on Sundays too. My mom never told me much about Perrysburg, but the one thing she told me was how her heart ached not being able to hold us and how she would cry for days after we left. My mom had a very serious operation and had a scar that outlined the entire front and back of her left lung and because of this operation, we were unable to see her for three months but Nurse North would take my mom pictures we drew for her and she would bring each of us a picture of our Mom we kept under our pillows and she tried telling us every day that one day our Mom would come and get us and we could go home and that day finally came. I only remember Perrysburg as a place high up where there were so many trees and how I could look out and see so far and I thought it was so beautiful.
I am so very glad that I found this site and read the letters and wished there had been more letters from people who were there in the years closer to those I spent in Perrysburg. I am 59 now and I was there I believe from 1953 -1956. Thank you again for all your work and I hope others will sign the petition as I did, to preserve this memorable site. I hope one day to come visit Perrysburg, for it was a part of my life that gave me certain values and appreciation for all the dedication that I now think back on and can understand.
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