-----Original Message----- From: My Family History Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 7:28 PM To: My_Family_History@msn.com Subject: "Rosemary Prepares For Delicate Heart Operation" By-line: "STRICKEN WITH RHEUMATIC FEVER" "Rosie" Todd (1-21-1943--1-1-1961} This is being sent in to read by myself, Angela Frances Todd, cousin of Rosemary Todd, known to all as "Rosie," a dear, sweet, intelligent, giving girl. Forgive any rambling or repetition. I have a lot to keep straight. There was a series of articles written about her before, during, and after her surgery, through the time of her death, funeral, and burial. This is just one of those articles: Wednesday Evening, October 12, 1960. "Pharos-Tribune" newspaper, Logansport, Cass County, Indiana. Page 13. Column 1. On the left side of the page is a square, photograph, which, though it is shown in black-and-white, I see, in my mind, the way it was in real life: in color. The photo shows Rosie sitting in one of those dark, overstuffed chairs, draped with one of the afghans that her family would make, especially her mother, my Aunt Ruth. Zig-zag patterns of bright orange, dark brown, etc. Anyway, the chair and afghan are in front of some large curtains covering one of those old-style, tall windows. Rosie is sitting sideways, face pointing to the right. Rosie's light brown hair, contrasted against her very pale skin, had been set into soft curls, not quite reaching her shoulders. She was wearing her stylish 50's glasses. The pattern of her dress was criss-crossed rows of small diamonds. I seem to remember they were pastel blue and yellow in color, but I can't be sure. On the finger next to the pinkie finger on her little, delicate, right hand is a big, dark, square ring, which I believe to be her class ring. She is looking downward to the hand that holds the needle which is sewing her latest creation. The caption under the photo reads, "STUDIOUS PATIENT--Rosemary Todd studies her embroidery and other needlework as she waits for delicate heart operation late this year. She is reviving a lost art, that of making hairpin lace strips for afghans. She says it is interesting and easy. (Staff Photo.)" "Rosemary Prepares For Delicate Heart Operation" By-line: "STRICKEN WITH RHEUMATIC FEVER." Miss Rosemary Todd, the 17-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Todd, rural route 3, Logansport, and next to the youngest child of two boys and three girls, is scheduled for a rare heart operation at the Mayo clinic, in Rochester, Minn., Dec. 30 Stricken with rheumatic fever at the age of six, Rosemary lived a near normal life until 1959 when a heart attack hospitalized her for 16 weeks. Since then she has had a private tutor and spends most of her time in bed. TOLD HER case was hopeless because some of her blood had a tendency to remain in her heart instead of flowing through her body, thus causing her heart to work much harder, she was taken to the Mayo clinic in August of this year. There her case was labeled and an operation was scheduled for the earliest possible date. It is necessary that specialists be available for the surgery and 15 one pint blood donors of special type "B" positive had to be available for live transfusions during the operation. DOCTORS AT THE Mayo clinic have performed 70 operations of this type with most of them proving successful. Rosemary and her parents were told by the Rochester doctors she will live a near normal life again if the operation is a success. Since suffering the congestive heart failure in 1959, she has completed the work of her junior year in high school, being provided a home-bound teacher by the state of Indiana for these studies. Her tutor, Miss Mary Bradfield, retired teacher of Washington township, is now proceeding with her senior year studies and hopes to complete the first semester before Rosemary makes the trip to Rochester, Minn. ROSEMARY'S NORMAL day calls for breakfast after arising and a return to her bed at 10 a.m.; lunch at noon and a session with her teacher at 1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Then comes another nap, followed by the evening meal and then to bed for the night. There is no suffering connected with her illness. She tires easily but manages to ride in an automobile to and from her doctor's office and when she is feeling exceptionally good, she attends Sunday church services.... She expects to make the trip to Rochester by car, accompanied by her parents. Her examination at the clinic in Rochester started Aug. 15, and was concluded six days later. SHE OCCUPIES her time with sewing and needlework, making most of her clothes, and with her high school studies. She does not fear the rare operation, looking forward to it as something to get behind her. Since she became seriously ill in 1959 she has been on a rigid salt free diet. Rosemary's oldest brother, Paul, is 21, and is just out of the navy. Tom, 20, is taking pre-ministerial studies at Franklin College. A sister, Barbara, 18, has enrolled in the school of nursing at Ball State College in Muncie, and her younger sister, Martha, 15, is a sophomore in Washington township high school. Her father is employed at the Muelhausen Spring Division of the Rockwell Standard Corporation and her mother is employed at the State hospital. ROSEMARY expects to spend six weeks in Rochester before returning home. Her parents plan to arrive with her in Rochester shortly after Christmas day inasmuch as the doctors want her there a few days before the operation. She will go to Rochester with a Red Cross credit card assuring her the 15 pints of blood she will need will be replaced by the Cass county Chapter of the American Red Cross. The replacement will not necessarily be of the same type but the amount of blood used will be replaced, Red Cross officials said. ______________________________________________ Comments from Angela about this article. Regarding the blood drive. There was a special blood drive from the men at the Bunker Hill Air Force Base, in nearby Peru, Indiana. Later the base was re-named Grissom Air Force Base. Next point. It was said that the Mayo's clinic had performed 70 of these special heart operations, though, in a later article, it specified only 50 of said operations. Rosie's tutor, Mary Bradfield, later became Angela's tutor, though Angela was not homeschooled. Mrs. Bradfield, left over from the 19th century, later died in the late 1960's. She would teach a child for no money, if the education was really needed and someone had no money. A wonderful, wonderful woman. She was missing one lung and still would teach. Rosie's church mentioned above was The Baptist Temple on the edge of downtown Logansport, on the corner of Sixth Street and East Broadway. The salt-free diet, known to dieticians as a sodium-free diet, was prepared at home by her mother, my Aunt Ruth. Aunt Ruth would talk about what Rosie could "keep down" when she would eat. During the days when she was too ill to sleep in her upstairs bedroom, she slept on a couch in the dining room, next to the kitchen doorway. The dining room was a friendly place, with an upright dark piano in it. We had fun teaching each other songs, the church hymns included. I remember a goldfish bowl was in the dining room, too. The livingroom and its t.v., and our games of cards and monopoly, of which Cousin Tom was always the treasurer, kept us all busy. Saturdays were fun when we were really little, watching old Westerns on t.v., such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Hop-Along Cassidy, while Aunt Ruth was making a cake in the kitchen. When we were still little, we would run back and forth from Uncle Paul and Aunt Ruth's house to Gramma and Grampa's next door. I loved playing with Lassie, Paul and Ruth's dog. I'd run with her through the fields back to the creek, where Cousin Martha and I would "skip rocks." Lassie, seen at both houses, was a gentle dog, who, in the morning, would want to lie down on that one single back porch step to sun herself. She would gently pick up the kittens, one by one, by the scruff of their necks, and move them over off of "her" step. And there she would lie until someone would come running out the back door, the bottom of which would bump her till she'd move. Gramma and Grampa had lovely lilacs and roses and goats and a hen house and a barn and rabbits and...oh, yeh, this is about Rosie. But, to speak of one family member or of one house without mentioning everyone and everything involved somehow would seem incomplete. I also have to mention that, as our cousins and my sisters, Christine Annette Todd Cook (12-5-1948--Died on the estimated date of Sunday, St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1991) and Marie Elaine Todd Quinn Guerrette (Born 6-13-1946) entered into the teenaged years, our big hobby was dancing and collecting records. Rosie's favorite song, made popular by "The Crests" was "Sixteen Candles." I think of her every time I hear that beautiful song. Rosie was 16 in 1959, the time frame of when the song was popular. However, I saw three different reports of when the song actually hit the record charts: 1953, which I don't believe; 1958; and 1959. About Rosie and these TWO houses. After the death of my grandmother, Flora Etta Reynolds Todd, on February 10, 1960, Rosie's family moved next door into the house of Grampa John Henry Todd (3-13-1884--9-2-1958) and Gramma Flora Etta Reynolds Todd (8-20-1888--2-10-1960.) This move from Paul and Ruth's former house into his John and Flora's former house was between February and December, 1960. I know the move was after the snow was gone. I think it was between Spring and early Summer. Rosie's photos and newspaper articles were all featured after the move next door. Paul and Ruth rented out their previous house. One of Rosie's hobbies was scrapbooking all of the get-well cards that she received , of which there were many. The full names of her family were her father, PAUL Raymond Todd, Senior (6-26-1915--5-15-2005); her mother, RUTH May Potts Todd (4-16-1918--6-27-1980); her eldest brother, PAUL RAYmond Todd, Junior (Born 5-29-1939--Have to look up death date); Thomas (TOM) Norman Todd (7-29-1940); Barbara JEAN Todd (Born 11-29-1941); Rosemary (Rosie") Todd (1-21-1943--1-1-1961)and the youngest, MARTHA Alice Todd (Born 3-11-1945.) As you see, Paul, Senior was known as "Paul." Paul, Junior was known as "Paul Ray." I, Cousin Angela Frances Todd, born Tuesday, July 1, 1947, was age thirteen and a half, to the exact day, on the upcoming New Year's Day in 1961. The day when, at age 17, almost 18, and, down to a weight of only 80 pounds, my dear Cousin Rosie finally died. Though she finally had color back in her cheeks following open-heart surgery, she could only live for two more days. More newspaper articles follow this one, into January of 1961. Within a few years after Rosie's death, everything was changed. The remaining cousins were all married. Lassie was gone. The barn had been torn down. The animal sheds and the animals, themselves were all gone. Paul and Ruth moved to Ft. Myers, Florida where they resided until Ruth died. Paul later remarried a Mary Ann Woodruff. Although Uncle Paul really loved both wives, his final resting place is in Mount Hope Cemetery in Logansport, Cass County, Indiana. There he lies next to Ruth and Rosie. Son, Paul Ray, died a few years ago, too, and is also there in the section called, "Veterans Circle." Both of the Logansport houses were eventually torn down. It's all gone, now, save the sound of the wind and the memories of Rosie who lives in my heart, forever and ever. I love you, Rosie and I did not forget you. Sleep with the angels, Your Cousin, Angie Angela Frances Todd P.S. Watch for many more memories of Rosie as I transcribe the other newspaper articles about her, through her death on New Year's Day, 1961. And beyond.

Sounds like she had great local support - great Mary Bradfield sounded awesome, a teacher we could all look up to :) ----- Original Message ----- From: "My Family History" <my_family_history@msn.com> To: <INMONTGO@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 7:31 PM Subject: [InMontgo] "Rosemary Prepares For Delicate Heart Operation" By-line: "STRICKEN WITH RHEUMATIC FEVER" > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: My Family History > Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 7:28 PM > To: My_Family_History@msn.com > Subject: "Rosemary Prepares For Delicate Heart Operation" By-line: > "STRICKEN WITH RHEUMATIC FEVER" > > "Rosie" Todd (1-21-1943--1-1-1961} > > This is being sent in to read by myself, Angela Frances Todd, cousin of > Rosemary Todd, known to all as "Rosie," a dear, sweet, intelligent, giving > girl. > > Forgive any rambling or repetition. I have a lot to keep straight. > > There was a series of articles written about her before, during, and after > her surgery, through the time of her death, funeral, and burial. > > This is just one of those articles: > > Wednesday Evening, October 12, 1960. > "Pharos-Tribune" newspaper, Logansport, Cass County, Indiana. Page 13. > Column 1. > > On the left side of the page is a square, photograph, which, though it is > shown in black-and-white, I see, in my mind, the way it was in real life: > in color. The photo shows Rosie sitting in one of those dark, overstuffed > chairs, draped with one of the afghans that her family would make, > especially her mother, my Aunt Ruth. Zig-zag patterns of bright orange, > dark brown, etc. Anyway, the chair and afghan are in front of some large > curtains covering one of those old-style, tall windows. Rosie is sitting > sideways, face pointing to the right. Rosie's light brown hair, contrasted > against her very pale skin, had been set into soft curls, not quite > reaching her shoulders. She was wearing her stylish 50's glasses. The > pattern of her dress was criss-crossed rows of small diamonds. I seem to > remember they were pastel blue and yellow in color, but I can't be sure. > On the finger next to the pinkie finger on her little, delicate, right > hand is a big, dark, square ring, which I believe to! > be her class ring. She is looking downward to the hand that holds the > needle which is sewing her latest creation. The caption under the photo > reads, "STUDIOUS PATIENT--Rosemary Todd studies her embroidery and other > needlework as she waits for delicate heart operation late this year. She > is reviving a lost art, that of making hairpin lace strips for afghans. > She says it is interesting and easy. (Staff Photo.)" > > "Rosemary Prepares For Delicate Heart Operation" By-line: "STRICKEN WITH > RHEUMATIC FEVER." > > Miss Rosemary Todd, the 17-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul > Todd, rural route 3, Logansport, and next to the youngest child of two > boys and three girls, is scheduled for a rare heart operation at the Mayo > clinic, in Rochester, Minn., Dec. 30 > > Stricken with rheumatic fever at the age of six, Rosemary lived a near > normal life until 1959 when a heart attack hospitalized her for 16 weeks. > Since then she has had a private tutor and spends most of her time in bed. > > TOLD HER case was hopeless because some of her blood had a tendency to > remain in her heart instead of flowing through her body, thus causing her > heart to work much harder, she was taken to the Mayo clinic in August of > this year. There her case was labeled and an operation was scheduled for > the earliest possible date. > > It is necessary that specialists be available for the surgery and 15 > one pint blood donors of special type "B" positive had to be available for > live transfusions during the operation. > > DOCTORS AT THE Mayo clinic have performed 70 operations of this type > with most of them proving successful. Rosemary and her parents were told > by the Rochester doctors she will live a near normal life again if the > operation is a success. > > Since suffering the congestive heart failure in 1959, she has > completed the work of her junior year in high school, being provided a > home-bound teacher by the state of Indiana for these studies. Her tutor, > Miss Mary Bradfield, retired teacher of Washington township, is now > proceeding with her senior year studies and hopes to complete the first > semester before Rosemary makes the trip to Rochester, Minn. > > ROSEMARY'S NORMAL day calls for breakfast after arising and a return > to her bed at 10 a.m.; lunch at noon and a session with her teacher at 1 > p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Then comes another nap, followed > by the evening meal and then to bed for the night. > > There is no suffering connected with her illness. She tires easily but > manages to ride in an automobile to and from her doctor's office and when > she is feeling exceptionally good, she attends Sunday church services.... > She expects to make the trip to Rochester by car, accompanied by her > parents. > > Her examination at the clinic in Rochester started Aug. 15, and was > concluded six days later. > > SHE OCCUPIES her time with sewing and needlework, making most of her > clothes, and with her high school studies. She does not fear the rare > operation, looking forward to it as something to get behind her. Since she > became seriously ill in 1959 she has been on a rigid salt free diet. > > Rosemary's oldest brother, Paul, is 21, and is just out of the navy. > Tom, 20, is taking pre-ministerial studies at Franklin College. A sister, > Barbara, 18, has enrolled in the school of nursing at Ball State College > in Muncie, and her younger sister, Martha, 15, is a sophomore in > Washington township high school. Her father is employed at the Muelhausen > Spring Division of the Rockwell Standard Corporation and her mother is > employed at the State hospital. > > ROSEMARY expects to spend six weeks in Rochester before returning > home. Her parents plan to arrive with her in Rochester shortly after > Christmas day inasmuch as the doctors want her there a few days before the > operation. > > She will go to Rochester with a Red Cross credit card assuring her the > 15 pints of blood she will need will be replaced by the Cass county > Chapter of the American Red Cross. The replacement will not necessarily be > of the same type but the amount of blood used will be replaced, Red Cross > officials said. > ______________________________________________ > > Comments from Angela about this article. > > Regarding the blood drive. There was a special blood drive from the men at > the Bunker Hill Air Force Base, in nearby Peru, Indiana. Later the base > was re-named Grissom Air Force Base. > > Next point. It was said that the Mayo's clinic had performed 70 of these > special heart operations, though, in a later article, it specified only 50 > of said operations. > > Rosie's tutor, Mary Bradfield, later became Angela's tutor, though Angela > was not homeschooled. Mrs. Bradfield, left over from the 19th century, > later died in the late 1960's. She would teach a child for no money, if > the education was really needed and someone had no money. A wonderful, > wonderful woman. She was missing one lung and still would teach. > > Rosie's church mentioned above was > The Baptist Temple on the edge of downtown Logansport, on the corner of > Sixth Street and East Broadway. > > The salt-free diet, known to dieticians as a sodium-free diet, was > prepared at home by her mother, my Aunt Ruth. Aunt Ruth would talk about > what Rosie could "keep down" when she would eat. During the days when she > was too ill to sleep in her upstairs bedroom, she slept on a couch in the > dining room, next to the kitchen doorway. The dining room was a friendly > place, with an upright dark piano in it. We had fun teaching each other > songs, the church hymns included. I remember a goldfish bowl was in the > dining room, too. The livingroom and its t.v., and our games of cards and > monopoly, of which Cousin Tom was always the treasurer, kept us all busy. > Saturdays were fun when we were really little, watching old Westerns on > t.v., such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Hop-Along Cassidy, while Aunt > Ruth was making a cake in the kitchen. When we were still little, we would > run back and forth from Uncle Paul and Aunt Ruth's house to Gramma and > Grampa's next door. I loved playing with Lassi! > e, Paul and Ruth's dog. I'd run with her through the fields back to the > creek, where Cousin Martha and I would "skip rocks." Lassie, seen at both > houses, was a gentle dog, who, in the morning, would want to lie down on > that one single back porch step to sun herself. She would gently pick up > the kittens, one by one, by the scruff of their necks, and move them over > off of "her" step. And there she would lie until someone would come > running out the back door, the bottom of which would bump her till she'd > move. Gramma and Grampa had lovely lilacs and roses and goats and a hen > house and a barn and rabbits and...oh, yeh, this is about Rosie. But, to > speak of one family member or of one house without mentioning everyone and > everything involved somehow would seem incomplete. > > I also have to mention that, as our cousins and my sisters, Christine > Annette Todd Cook (12-5-1948--Died on the estimated date of Sunday, St. > Patrick's Day, March 17, 1991) and Marie Elaine Todd Quinn Guerrette (Born > 6-13-1946) entered into the teenaged years, our big hobby was dancing and > collecting records. > > Rosie's favorite song, made popular by "The Crests" was "Sixteen Candles." > I think of her every time I hear that beautiful song. Rosie was 16 in > 1959, the time frame of when the song was popular. However, I saw three > different reports of when the song actually hit the record charts: 1953, > which I don't believe; 1958; and 1959. > > About Rosie and these TWO houses. After the death of my grandmother, Flora > Etta Reynolds Todd, on February 10, 1960, Rosie's family moved next door > into the house of Grampa John Henry Todd (3-13-1884--9-2-1958) and Gramma > Flora Etta Reynolds Todd (8-20-1888--2-10-1960.) > > This move from Paul and Ruth's former house into his John and Flora's > former house was between February and December, 1960. I know the move was > after the snow was gone. I think it was between Spring and early Summer. > Rosie's photos and newspaper articles were all featured after the move > next door. Paul and Ruth rented out their previous house. > > One of Rosie's hobbies was scrapbooking all of the get-well cards that she > received , of which there were many. > > The full names of her family were her father, PAUL Raymond Todd, Senior > (6-26-1915--5-15-2005); her mother, RUTH May Potts Todd > (4-16-1918--6-27-1980); her eldest brother, PAUL RAYmond Todd, Junior > (Born 5-29-1939--Have to look up death date); Thomas (TOM) Norman Todd > (7-29-1940); Barbara JEAN Todd > (Born 11-29-1941); Rosemary (Rosie") Todd (1-21-1943--1-1-1961)and the > youngest, MARTHA Alice Todd (Born 3-11-1945.) > > As you see, Paul, Senior was known as "Paul." > > Paul, Junior was known as "Paul Ray." > > I, Cousin Angela Frances Todd, born Tuesday, July 1, 1947, was age > thirteen and a half, to the exact day, on the upcoming New Year's Day in > 1961. The day when, at age 17, almost 18, and, down to a weight of only 80 > pounds, my dear Cousin Rosie finally died. Though she finally had color > back in her cheeks following open-heart surgery, she could only live for > two more days. > > More newspaper articles follow this one, into January of 1961. > > Within a few years after Rosie's death, everything was changed. The > remaining cousins were all married. Lassie was gone. The barn had been > torn down. The animal sheds and the animals, themselves were all gone. > Paul and Ruth moved to Ft. Myers, Florida where they resided until Ruth > died. Paul later remarried a Mary Ann Woodruff. > > Although Uncle Paul really loved both wives, his final resting place is in > Mount Hope Cemetery in Logansport, Cass County, Indiana. There he lies > next to Ruth and Rosie. Son, Paul Ray, died a few years ago, too, and is > also there in the section called, "Veterans Circle." > > Both of the Logansport houses were eventually torn down. > > It's all gone, now, save the sound of the wind and the memories of Rosie > who lives in my heart, forever and ever. > > I love you, Rosie and I did not forget you. > > Sleep with the angels, > > Your Cousin, Angie > Angela Frances Todd > > P.S. Watch for many more memories of Rosie as I transcribe the other > newspaper articles about her, through her death on New Year's Day, 1961. > And beyond. > > > > http://ingenweb.org/inmontgomery/ > > List Manager - inmontgo-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > INMONTGO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message