Florence Hazel Copenhaver's Story

Dear Chuck:

As promised, here is my grandmother's story!

In 1932, my father's mother, Florence H. Copenhaver, had given birth to her 7th child in 17 years. She lived on a fairly large farm where cows were milked by hand, both the water source and a toilet were located outside, and dishes were done in a dish pan. It follows that ALL family hand "clean up" was done in a pan located on a bench on the back porch--with a larger, galvanized tub that could be brought in for occasional bathing. Florence gardened, and canned, while the men farmed mostly with a plow horse. Household heat was provided by natural gas heaters located in some rooms. Windows had screens or were just pushed up and held open with a stick in the summer.

And Florence developed a nagging cough!

 In 1942 or 1944 when Florence's youngest child was 10 or 12, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to Cresson Sanitarium located more than 55 miles away--a huge distance for a woman leaving so many children. A sister Emma Brown would take care of the household in her absence. Actually, Emma's daughter Nathal also was found to be positive for TB; and she, too, was sent to Cresson. ( Florence's stay would stretch to 13 years; Nathal's treatment must have been shorter, because she gave birth to a child in 1946. Both mother and baby returned home healthy sometime shortly after that date.)

My siblings and I are just now learning about life at Cresson Sanitarium. We are not aware of pictures that were taken--if any-- or the number of visits made. WW II broke out and Florence's oldest, my father William T. Copenhaver, became a private in the army, participating at least for the last year of that war.

After the war in 1948, a discharged William T. married Waneta L. Bish at a chapel in Cresson so that Florence could experience the event. As confirmed by the photographs sent with this email, all but one of Florence's children attended--as well as Harvey, the bridesmaid, the best man, and the mother of the bride, Martha Bish. One of the happier moments at the Sanitarium!

Bill and Waneta soon started a family with four children born over the next five years. I was number "one", born in 1949. My personal awareness of Florence's illness didn't develop until I was at least 12 and our family moved back to the adjacent farmhouse, a mile or so from Florence and Harvey's farm.

I think our grandmother returned home in 1955-1957, but that date can't be confirmed because the people who should have known are no longer living or don't remember. Nonetheless, Florence returned to a house with running water, indoor plumbing, and a better heating system.  Pasteurization and formal marketing of milk from their cows as well as a tractor had been introduced. But the changes didn't stop there.  

Chuck Felton Note  10-24-2017)  I received the following update from Louise Gardner in October 2017.

 I have heard from someone named Cindy Bright who is in possession of Emma Brown's Bible.  Emma was Florence's sister who cared for her children while she was in the Cresson Sanatorium.

In this Bible there are three handwritten pages which record births, deaths, marriages, etc.  At the top of one page (shown at right) Cindy says it clearly says, "Florence came home to stay on December 21, 1952".  The last entry on that page confirms Florence's date of death on April 22, 1972.

The copies of the pages are difficult to read, but I feel we now have Florence's correct discharge date in 1952.  Her total stay at Cresson then was 10 to 12 years, depending on when she and Nathal Brown entered the facility.  I gave 1942 or 1944 as her entry dates.  So her stay was more like 10 years, not the lengthier 13 years as I had first estimated.

1.  In 1932 Florence Copenhaver was 38 and the mother of six children ranging in age from 15 to 1. The family is shown near the garden in front of their farmhouse in Redbank Township, Armstrong County near Oak Ridge, PA. My father is the oldest son shown in the back. (Florence and husband Harvey’s first child Avanelle died at age four of burns received by getting too close to an open flame of the gas range.) Other children pictured here are Vivian, and Arabelle in the back and Joy, Clair, and June in the front.  

2.  Found on other personal pages, this is a view of the Cresson facility seen on post cards. This was sent to son Bill in Czechoslovakia during WW II.

5.  Florence in her gown on the wall.  Summer of 1951.

6.  Florence with three other patients on the steps of a building.

7. L to R:  Edith, Coppy and Turner.  In this photo taken at Cresson and provided on the Cresson Sanitarium Remembrance site by the family of Lucy Knepp, Florence is the middle woman indicated as “Coppy", short for Copenhaver.

9.  Florence in one of her robes in the sitting area with the aquarium and palm at Cresson.

                                                                         11.   Florence with gray hair in 1949.

12.  Florence on left with two friends in 1945 with snow in the background. 

13.  Florence marked (with the arrow) with two friends.

14.  I have been told that I was taken to Cresson Sanatorium as a toddler,  but only shown to my grandmother through a window.  Florence, nonetheless, apparently spent a lot of time outside.  

17.   On June 11, 1948, during Florence’s stay at Cresson, her son William married Waneta L. Bish at a Chapel in Cresson.  Pictured here on the day of the wedding with Florence is husband Harvey and Waneta’s mother Martha Bish. Florence was near the end of her treatment—well enough to be outside with family, but not well enough yet to come home. (According to the San’s published Timeline, the use of streptomycin was begun in the facility in 1947.) 

19.  My parents, Bill and Waneta Copenhaver on their wedding day, June 11, 1948.  The arched window of Grace Chapel is visible on the left.

21.   Shown here—approximately in 1955 when we believe Florence came home—are four of her  grandchildren.       L to R:   (Willian D., Melinda Sue, Louise A. (me), and Dennis L. Copenhaver)

22.  This 1961 or 1962 picture shows Florence with her sister Bessie back at her farm in Armstrong County. With them are two grandsons:  Joey Applegate and Billy Copenhaver. 

                                                                  28.  Funeral Announcement

                                                       Nathal Brown's Story

Nathal Brown’s story begins with her mother  Emma’s family.  William Scott Brown and Adiline (Hilliard) Brown lived in Wildcat, Clarion County Pa. and had 11 children of which Emma and Florence were two.  From 1907-1909 both parents and six of their children died of Typhoid Fever (as did many other people in the area.)  The deceased Brown family are all buried in Middle Run Cemetery just outside of Fairmount City, PA, in unmarked graves.  Left behind and without parents, the two brothers Harvey and Clyde in time began their own families.  Bessie was adopted by a Hepler family and later married a Sheffler.  Florence married Harvey Copenhaver, and Emma Joined her sister and brother-in-law on the farm in Redbank Township,  Armstong County.

     By 1920, Florence had given birth to three children and was expecting the fourth, and Emma at age 18 gave birth to a daughter Nathal.  Emma and Nathal continued to live at the farm.

                                                      29.  In this 1941 photo, Nathal is shown at age 20. 

Sometime shortly after this photo was taken, both Nathal’s Aunt Florence and she were diagnosed with tuberculosis and entered the Sanitarium at Cresson. Florence’s stay was to be lengthy as recorded in her Personal Story, spanning part of the  1940’s and a few years in the 1950’s.

Nathal’s illness improved much more quickly, and she entered the nursing program at the San rather than returning home.  She graduated from the nursing program in 1944.

 30.   A niece, Nathal Brown, was the second (and only other) family member besides Florence to develop tuberculosis. Recovering quickly she became a Cresson nurse.    1943

32.  Nathal is listed in the second column as one of those graduating from the San Nursing Program in this June 26, 1944 newspaper article, probably from the Altoona Mirror newspaper.

33.  Nathal on the left with a cigarette smoking patient and a second nurse. 1944

                                            34.  Nathal Mattis, by then a nurse, with Florence in 1944.

 In 1946 Nathal married Anthony J. Mattis and gave birth to a son Robert.  That marriage was unsuccessful and Nathal returned to the Copenhaver farm, where they made their home.

                                     35.  Nathal’s son Robert  Mattis shortly after arriving in Clarion County.

36.  Nathal, pictured here with her mother Emma and Florence’s youngest daughter Ruby Joy, continued to live at the farm until her death in 1993.