04-05-2020, 04:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-17-2022, 01:33 AM by Terry Bentley.)
Chapter 28
Our big plans for the first weekend post school obligations was watching the 1961 Indianapolis 500 pre-race coverage. Me and Steve had been planning and looking forward to this race for over a month. This is the first time to see it on a color television. Steve was really pumped about that. His dad had not given in on the family pressure yet to invest in a new color tv. It would take time, but he would eventually cave. They all do.
But Sunday morning I get a call from him. Seems like he came down with something. I did notice he was quieter than usual yesterday when we were finishing the kart.
He goes on to tell me his mom thinks he caught the flu. This brings back some scary memories from just a few years earlier.
It was 1957, I was only 9 years old. Had my fair share of chicken pox, measles and always a "near deadly" case of whatever was going around any particular year. The usual colds were common growing up. But that year there was what they called an influenza like nothing seen since the Spanish Flu from World War 1.
It was close to end of the year I first started hearing about the seriousness of this pandemic as they referred to as. The schools had all types of preventative measures we had to adhere to. Now we had more to practice every week. Not just preparing in case of an atom bomb from the Russians. This Swine Flu, as it was named, had brought its wrath here and more people than I could possibly count died from it thru 1958.
After hearing about all of the deaths and crippling effects of polio from my elders over the years, this seemed to be even worse. Maybe from all the talk and coverage on the radio. It was covered constantly everyday.
The schools never actually closed here, but I remember my grandparents stopping by several times. They only lived 1/4 mile away. I had walked to their house plenty of times back then.
But when visiting this time, they refused to come in. There were both of them standing outside on the front porch and keeping distance from all of us. It was really scary to me why they were acting this way. Had they gotten sick and didnt want us to get infected?
They had come by to drop off food. They insisted we all stay at home whenever possible and avoid close contact with others.
Now they are not taking any chances. Making sure we have plenty to eat and are standing firm about staying home for our own safety.
Both sets of my grandparents had lived thru the Spanish Flu in 1918. They also had mentioned their parents living thru the Russian Flu in 1889. There were always plenty of horror stories from smallpox and polio too. Everyone knew somebody that had been affected or died from them. Both friends and close family.
Those times are ones they dont like talking about much. Seems they all knew plenty of folks that suffered or died during these outbreaks. Some friends had even died within mere hours and days of developing the first symptoms.
What kind of diseases can do this? I kept thinking. I did get Scarlet fever once. Sure dont remember much of it. I was told my fever reached 104 and not really aware of anything most of that time. When my fever broke, I did remember my mom crying while holding me tight in her arms.
One of the obvious signs of scarlet fever was a bright red rash covering most of your body. I didnt have any signs of one at all. Unlike my brother. He even had bumps on his tongue. My throat was very sore, from the strep throat, and neck was all swollen, but nothing much other than having no strength.
I sure didnt think it was that bad initially. Just a few days later, after trying to get up and around again, I did have a good idea of what a train wreck felt like. My body was limp, and absolutely no strength for a week after this mess. If I did any more than just breathe, would be completely out of breath.
Steves older sister had taken ill from the flu, but quickly recovered. His mom also had close family lost when some of these diseases swept thru. She is not taking any chances this time around.
There wasnt that much we could do then, except keep distance from anyone that seemed like they had any cold symptoms. The usual covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing. Make sure to wash hands with soap and water after being out in public. Always remember being told about keeping my dirty fingers off my face. This happened only 3 years ago but seems like a lifetime as I think about it now.
I do remember there being a rushed vaccine. It turned out to be too little too late. Didnt work as well as first expected. Not widely available until the virus had run its course. Last year I remember how much hype there was about now getting a yearly flu shot. All the newspapers and night time news covered it plenty of times over the last two winters.
Well seems the pre-race coverage got rained out. So I ended up watching a lot of reruns of previous race highlights, driver profiles, and other racing going on instead. Even watched the time trials again. Oh well, so much for making plans.
Our big plans for the first weekend post school obligations was watching the 1961 Indianapolis 500 pre-race coverage. Me and Steve had been planning and looking forward to this race for over a month. This is the first time to see it on a color television. Steve was really pumped about that. His dad had not given in on the family pressure yet to invest in a new color tv. It would take time, but he would eventually cave. They all do.
But Sunday morning I get a call from him. Seems like he came down with something. I did notice he was quieter than usual yesterday when we were finishing the kart.
He goes on to tell me his mom thinks he caught the flu. This brings back some scary memories from just a few years earlier.
It was 1957, I was only 9 years old. Had my fair share of chicken pox, measles and always a "near deadly" case of whatever was going around any particular year. The usual colds were common growing up. But that year there was what they called an influenza like nothing seen since the Spanish Flu from World War 1.
It was close to end of the year I first started hearing about the seriousness of this pandemic as they referred to as. The schools had all types of preventative measures we had to adhere to. Now we had more to practice every week. Not just preparing in case of an atom bomb from the Russians. This Swine Flu, as it was named, had brought its wrath here and more people than I could possibly count died from it thru 1958.
After hearing about all of the deaths and crippling effects of polio from my elders over the years, this seemed to be even worse. Maybe from all the talk and coverage on the radio. It was covered constantly everyday.
The schools never actually closed here, but I remember my grandparents stopping by several times. They only lived 1/4 mile away. I had walked to their house plenty of times back then.
But when visiting this time, they refused to come in. There were both of them standing outside on the front porch and keeping distance from all of us. It was really scary to me why they were acting this way. Had they gotten sick and didnt want us to get infected?
They had come by to drop off food. They insisted we all stay at home whenever possible and avoid close contact with others.
Now they are not taking any chances. Making sure we have plenty to eat and are standing firm about staying home for our own safety.
Both sets of my grandparents had lived thru the Spanish Flu in 1918. They also had mentioned their parents living thru the Russian Flu in 1889. There were always plenty of horror stories from smallpox and polio too. Everyone knew somebody that had been affected or died from them. Both friends and close family.
Those times are ones they dont like talking about much. Seems they all knew plenty of folks that suffered or died during these outbreaks. Some friends had even died within mere hours and days of developing the first symptoms.
What kind of diseases can do this? I kept thinking. I did get Scarlet fever once. Sure dont remember much of it. I was told my fever reached 104 and not really aware of anything most of that time. When my fever broke, I did remember my mom crying while holding me tight in her arms.
One of the obvious signs of scarlet fever was a bright red rash covering most of your body. I didnt have any signs of one at all. Unlike my brother. He even had bumps on his tongue. My throat was very sore, from the strep throat, and neck was all swollen, but nothing much other than having no strength.
I sure didnt think it was that bad initially. Just a few days later, after trying to get up and around again, I did have a good idea of what a train wreck felt like. My body was limp, and absolutely no strength for a week after this mess. If I did any more than just breathe, would be completely out of breath.
Steves older sister had taken ill from the flu, but quickly recovered. His mom also had close family lost when some of these diseases swept thru. She is not taking any chances this time around.
There wasnt that much we could do then, except keep distance from anyone that seemed like they had any cold symptoms. The usual covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing. Make sure to wash hands with soap and water after being out in public. Always remember being told about keeping my dirty fingers off my face. This happened only 3 years ago but seems like a lifetime as I think about it now.
I do remember there being a rushed vaccine. It turned out to be too little too late. Didnt work as well as first expected. Not widely available until the virus had run its course. Last year I remember how much hype there was about now getting a yearly flu shot. All the newspapers and night time news covered it plenty of times over the last two winters.
Well seems the pre-race coverage got rained out. So I ended up watching a lot of reruns of previous race highlights, driver profiles, and other racing going on instead. Even watched the time trials again. Oh well, so much for making plans.