Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The TB Sanatorium

























My grandfather, Thomas E. Pryor (1900-1941), spent seven of his last nine years in upstate tuberculosis sanatoriums. There, TB victims were isolated and attempted to recover. In the picture (1937)on the left, he's the short fellow. He lost three inches in height from the disease. He had a deep stage TB called Potts Disease that ate away his spinal column. The picture (1914) on the top right, is my grandfather at 13, taken on the grounds of Father Drumgoole's Home for Homeless Newsboys, an orphanage at the southern tip of Staten Island on Raritan Bay.
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On the lower right is my grandmother, Ann Pryor (1938). She took nine hour bus rides upstate to visit him. This picture was taken by my grandfather on one of those winter visits.
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ps Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theatre on this date 144 years ago.
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