Elusive Memories of Iola, parts I & II

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Submitted by Mike Governale @ RochesterSubway.com on Thu, 2013-12-26 20:31

original articles: http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2013/11/elusive-memories-of-iola-tuberculosis-sanatorium/ & http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2013/11/elusive-memories-of-iola-part-2/

A couple months ago we took a look inside the Iola tuberculosis hospital on Westfall Road. The buildings have since been demolished. But for Marilyn Casserino, 79, those photos triggered memories, and questions that will linger on…

On July 24, Marilyn saw the photos posted here by Sarah Barnes and felt compelled to tell her story in the comments. She pleaded:

I have been searching for Iola information for many years… My mother died in Iola in 1940. At that time I was a patient there. I was about 5 or 6 yrs old. I have a photo of me with a few other kids on the roof of one of the buildings. I have a few very vague memories of being there. I will be 80 soon and would give anything to remember more, also to be able to see some records of my mother and me if at all possible…

We are packing to move out of state… No matter what state I’m living in I will always be searching for anything to do with Iola… Is there any way to view old records of Iola? I’m interested in finding out how long my stay as a patient was. No one in my family knew (they are all gone now).

I try to put myself in Marilyn’s shoes, but I can’t. Being a patient in a this hospital, away from home with all these strangers; and at just six years old having to deal with such a loss. Now, after a lifetime, all that’s left are very faint memories of that place. The place she said goodbye to her mom.

This is heavy. I had to try to find some answers for Marilyn.

I contacted her and she sent me this photo of her with seven other children on the roof of Iola. She’s the one in the center – in the dark dress. Marilyn says she would like to know how long she and her mom were at the hospital. And she also wishes she knew who the other children in the photo were.

So I called around to see if I could find old patient records from Iola. And I did… right where I might expect to find them, at Monroe Community Hospital’s patient records office. The good people there dusted off several big old books of patient names from the mid 1930′s to 1940′s. Imagine my surprise when I cracked them open and found this…

Each book contains 200 to 300 pages – probably 10,000 names. Not digitized. Not searchable on a computer. Not alphabetical. Not even typed. All handwritten and entered in the order the patients were admitted to the hospital.

But all I know are the names of the patients, Marilyn and Vivian Casserino… and the date Vivian died: January 19, 1940. That means I’d have to scan over thousands of handwritten names line by line, backwards in time from 1940. So I did.

Over the course of two afternoons I searched all the way back to October 1, 1937. I found a Carmello Casserino, a Joseph Casserino, and a Russell Casserino – Marilyn’s grandfather and her two uncles, who at various times were admitted to Monroe Community Hospital. Unfortunately, I found no Marilyn and no Vivian.

I’ve come up empty. Now the question is, if Vivian died on January 19, 1940, and if she is in one of those books, how far back should I reasonably need to search?

Marilyn says she thinks she may have been there for as long as a year and a half. But was it typical for TB patients to be treated for a year? Two years? THREE years or more?

It’s difficult to look at the picture of this little girl and not feel connected. It’s strange, I know. But I’m having a difficult time allowing myself to give up this search.

Here’s an update to last Friday’s story about Marilyn Casserino, 79. Marilyn is the girl in the dark dress in the center of the photo above. This picture was taken c.1939 on the roof of the Children’s Building at Iola Tuberculosis Sanitorium where Marilyn was a patient, along with her mother Vivian.

Unfortunately, Marilyn’s mom passed away while at the hospital. Marilyn was just 6 at the time. Looking back at those days, she now wishes she could remember more – about her mom, and about this place where they were treated for well over a year.

For starters, she wanted to try and find out who the other girls in the photo were. Would you believe in less than one week we’ve now identified two of those girls…

This past Monday, Mark Hosier stumbled upon the story and left the following comment:

Imagine our surprise when my sister and I, looking for information on Iola, happen across this great story and find a picture of our mother and aunt. The girl in the center with the short blonde hair is our mother Jean Bissiett and the girl with the curley hair on Marilyn’s left is her sister Beverly Ferguson (different fathers). They “cured” at Iola with their mother Esther, brother Bob and another sister Barb. Esther died there in 1945. It saddens us to see the buildings have been torn down, and so little written about the history of the place and the people who spent years there. I hope they put some kind of memorial up to commemorate the people who worked, lived and died there, so they aren’t forgotten.

I couldn’t believe it. The power of the internet is real! I emailed Mark and found out he is for real as well. He sent these photos which show his mother, Jean, and aunt Beverly… the same two girls standing next to Marilyn in her photo!

There’s no mistaking those smiles.

Mark says he’s going to visit his mom this week and will show her Marilyn’s photo to see if it jogs any memories.

For Marilyn, it was exciting news to learn a few names. But she says she still doesn’t remember the girls. And says she still longs to remember her mom…

How wonderful to remember your childhood. There are so few memories for me. I remember being on the ground and looking up at a window to my mother. I remember sitting in the hall outside her door at the hospital and being held (I think I was a patient then). I sort of remember being in a dining area and not liking some food and got in trouble for not eating it. I sort of remember being in a crib and being sung to – it must have been her. These are such vague memories that I wonder if they are real.

I’m still looking for more information to share with Marilyn. But in the meantime, Mark sent more photos which show his mother during her second stay at Iola when her TB relapsed as a teenager…

Looks like they had some fun times up on that roof.

Check this out. That’s Jean on the left… And Gene Autry on the right! The Singing Cowboy external link came to visit the patients.

Here they are on the lawn in front of the Children’s Building. Looks like they’re getting ready for a group portrait.

Here’s the Children’s Building which was torn down a few weeks ago.

And here’s the view looking in the opposite direction across the lawn at the Administration Building. Beautiful. The building in the background on the right was the former Infirmary (built 1915). It was demolished in 1985.