Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Monday, March 4th, 1935


Health insurance?

If you needed a doctor, you just paid for a doctor. If you needed medicine, you just paid for medicine. If you needed new clothes, you bought that instead. If you had food, you shared it. If you couldn't afford something, you toughed it out. If you were in a jam, family helped you out.

That's how it appeared to work in 1935. Mary gets new clothes, but her mother would rather see her die than go to the hospital. What's up with that? Maybe the Marion hospital had the same bad reputation back then as today.

Clarence gets mentioned for the first time here. Clarence is Clarence Benson, son of Lloyd's brother William Birt and his wife, Mattie Weaver, sister of Lloyd's first wife Daisy Weaver. Clarence will turn 30 years old on the 4th of July, 1935. He is married to Bertha and has two little girls, Eleanor, 8 and Mary Margaret, 7.

I met Clarence sometime between 1992 and his death in 1995. He was living alone in an apartment in Mt. Vernon. Clarence was known to have money back in the prohibition days. He confessed to me that he had been a bootlegger. He owned a Mt. Vernon business, several nice trucks and fancy cars. He also didn't want to talk about it much with me as that was the past and he was now a Christian man. In this diary narrative he appears to have also been charitible in his younger days.

On the 7th of March, Mary sweats puddles of sweat but refuses to go to Columbus as recommended.

Who is Miss P?

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