1955 The Winning Number

Behind our house in Port Arthur, at the back of our yard on the other side of the fence, there was a big drainage ditch.  My friends and I would climb our fence and go exploring along the ditch.  I don’t think we ever found anything of significance, except a lot of mud and scratches and abrasions.  We were really not allowed to go back there because of the polio paranoia.  

One day I was running across the yard in a hurry to get in the house because I was covered with mud.  As I was about to open the screen door, I thought, “I need a lucky number to protect me from polio”.  At that moment, just as the screen door slammed, the number  4 popped into my head and it’s been my number ever since.

In a strange coincidence, my MR Number at the local hospital is:  161644.

4           4 x 4 = 16            16       

1955 Port Arthur, Janis

I went to school with Janis Joplin, it’s true.  She was 4 years older than me, and of course, she wasn’t famous at the time.  I doubt I ever saw her.  My dad vaguely knew her dad, they were both engineers at the Texaco refinery.  

Many years later, when I lived in New York, I was talking to a friend about this and she said it was funny I brought that up.  When she first moved to New York a few years before, she had a roommate who would not stop singing, and she was loud.  My friend said that finally she couldn’t stand it anymore, and asked her to move out.  It was Janis.  

1955 Port Arthur

My mother hated Port Arthur.  I liked it okay.  I got to spend a lot of time outside, at least when we first moved there.  

Then the polio epidemic hit, and it hit that area hard.  Everyone was paranoid.  In fact, our next door neighbor was a doctor and he had a son named Doug.  Doug wore braces on his legs and used crutches because he had polio. I remember my parents talking about how awful it was for a doctor’s son to have it. What is it they say? The doctor’s son is the last to get the shot? It was so true in this case. I remember they also had a Boxer like our dog Velvet. I was never allowed to talk to Doug and I felt so sorry for him.  Sometimes I would sneak a conversation over the fence.  It was very sad, and I wasn't allowed to play outside anymore either.  

We followed the progress of the Salk vaccine thanks to my Uncle Abbey who worked for a drug company.    When it was finally approved, it was like a miracle.  It was like we had been set free.

Interestingly, when we went to Normandy not long after that, we took some vaccine with us because it wasn't yet available in Europe.  It stayed in the refrigerator until we were due for our immunizations.

"April 12th had almost become a national holiday: people observed moments of silence, rang bells, honked horns, blew factory whistles, fired salutes, kept their red lights red in brief periods of tribute, took the rest of the day off, closed their schools or convoked fervid assemblies therein, drank toasts, hugged children, attended church, smiled at strangers, and forgave enemies."