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Sent: May 18, 2010
Subject: Cresson
Hello Charles Felton,

 

My name is Janet Burgess and I live in California. My family from Ireland made their home in Williamsport, PA, then Pittsburgh, PA about 1895. My grandparents were married in Williamsport in 1913, then moved to Koppel, a small town near Ellwood City. My whole life I have always heard about the sister, Kate Carroll, of my grandmother. I remember as a child being told she had contracted TB and was in a sanitarium from about 1920-1930. She died in 1930, so she never left Cresson. One of my aunts remembers going to visit Aunt Kate when she was a child. I have many photographs of Kate, a beautiful Irish girl. Recently, the daughter of one of my cousins, who lives in Philadelphia, started doing our family tree. She is the one who told me Kate was at Cresson and she also told me about your website. Thank you for making your fabulous website and sharing this information.

 

I grew up with a dad in the Navy, WW2 and Korea. My dad then retired from the Navy and became a schoolteacher. I remember my father telling me he had tested positive for TB, but never had any symptoms. He lived to be 82 and passed away in 1999.

 

Thanks so much for creating your website. I didn't know until today the name of the sanitarium. It was apparently written on the back of a photograph of Kate Carroll. I'm glad you survived and thrived after your diagnosis. What a world of change in brought to you as a young man.

 

Thanks again for sharing,  

Janet Burgess

 

 

 

3.  This picture was cropped from one of the san postcards.  Is shows the Cure Pavilion on the left and the Women's Cottages on the right.  If you look closely at the Cure Pavilion you can see patients sitting inside in canvas sling back chairs just as Kate is doing in Photo 2.

 

 

Sent: Jul 18, 2010 

I came to Cresson in March of 1972 as the first "non-physician" Superintendent.  Some of my most vivid memories are of the staff who had been staff during TB days or had been "patient workers". Two stand out.
 
Miss Ott was the head telephone operator and told me many stories about the Sanatorium. She (and others) told me about the practice of forcing some patients to work for no pay. If they refused to work they were put to bed immediately with no visitors. As soon as they volunteered to work they were released from bed and had full access to various entertainments.
 
Miss McHail was the head nurse and transitioned the facility from TB to mental retardation. She was the defacto superintendent. I was young and inexperienced and she made sure I did not do anything stupid while learning the job. I owe her a great deal in terms of my future work experiences. While she was a strict administrator, she had an unusual capacity to respond to the needs of the residents of the facility whether they had TB or mental retardation. She initiated progressive treatment practices that were absent in most of the other mental
retardation centers.
 
As with TB, the use of institutional settings to help people with mental retardation (or developmental disabilities) is now a thing of the past in many states. We can do a better job in community settings. Cresson served the needs
of Pennsylvania's citizens very effectively throughout its years and did so in no small part because of the quality of its staff. I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to be part of that history.
 
Will H. Burrow, PhD
Gray, Maine

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Sent: July 30, 2010
Subj: TB True Story: a response to Morning Call Newspaper Article

 

Dear Mr. Felton,

 

My name is Mrs. Julia A ( KREBS) Eltringham.  My mother, Rita Krebs  and  baby brother, Harvey Krebs, contracted TB.   At age 32 my mother was sent to Hamburg and at age 3 my brother Harvey was sent to Mont Alto with TB.

 

After 15 months my mother was sent home to die.  She died July 4, 1948 at age 32.  After two years, Harvey was sent home, not  cured, but in better condition than when he left.

 

Prior to my mother's death, she arranged with relatives, aunts, to care for the six of us.  My one aunt, Violet Krebs Gross and her husband adopted my infant brother Richard.  The remainder of us was co-raised by my Aunt Goldie Krebs and aunt Violet, mentioned above, jointly.  Aunt Goldie was not permitted by the then existing law to officially adopt Harvey, but she treated him as her son and called him “my son Harvey".

 

After my mother died the stigma of her death being caused by TB lingered in family, friends and neighbors for many years.  They also feared for their health and safety, shunning and not permitting play as it was before.  So, TB has had a dramatic effect on us.  This is a very abbreviated narrative of the family sorrow with the consequences of TB, physically, socially and emotionally.

 

My brothers are all living today.  Then there is the one girl, me, age 70, with three adult married children and seven healthy grandchildren.  Both my parents are deceased now, too.  Harvey Krebs is alive and well.  Father of two, one boy one girl, each an adult.  He recently retired from the US Postal Service.

 

I would like to have the location address of your web site so we can communicate further.  Thank you for sharing your story. I am so happy to learn that you are all well

 

Take Care 

Julia A. KREBS Eltringham

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