Fill It, Seal It, Mail It

By Janice (Knight) Hartman, Lititz, Pennsylvania, 1953

This is an ad appearing in a local Pennsylvania paper (Lancaster). It was taken right after I was out of isolation. I was diagnosed with Infantile Paralysis (Polio) after a lumbar puncture and put into isolation at Lancaster General Hospital. This picture of me and Nurse Sprout ("Sprouty" to her friends) was taken by the local National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis photographer. It was the first of several pictures of me that they used locally in newspapers and posters.

When I asked my older brother, Glenn Knight, what he remembered about this time, he responded, "In the year that you were in the hospital a lot of education went on in Lititz. Doc Griswold educated the Rotary Club, someone else the Lions and the Odd Fellows. Grandpa fielded questions at the fire house and the Young Men's Business League. The Lititz Record-Express ran scholarly articles and soothing editorials. Prof. Demmy, who was active in the March of Dimes, was a real mover in the education of our home town since at the time he was principal of the schools. We will never know the extent of that education but suffice it to say that Lititz, Pennsylvania turned into one of the most supportive communities in the nation."