Chris & Kelly
[3rd in a series]
The virus continued to spread over an 18-day span.
Several of the football team players had been sent home from the disease at this point, the first week of October. According to the CDC’s timeline, the majority of paralytic cases would have occurred by this date -- October 9, 1972. The final case would arise exactly a week later.
Students were not given much information during the lull of the 3rd and 4th weeks of October. The headmaster Cobbey Crisler, who died in 1988, we can only surmise was grappling with how to handle this unprecedented situation at his school.
The New York Times wouldn’t break the story until October 25. The day after the news, the State Health Authorities stepped in and gave mandated vaccinations to the entire student body.
Chris Bayley Giblin and Kelly Green were Daycroft students at the time (5th and 12th graders respectively), and while they did not contract the disease, they were affected frontline observers.
Chris spoke with me via Zoom in January earlier this year. -CR
Chris was 17 years old and attended Daycroft only one year, her senior year.
I had been acting out as a Junior.
My mother was a staunch (Christian) Scientist. My father went along with it. My cousin had been there 10 years before and enjoyed it. I was a cynical kid. My home life was not the best. I didn’t mind getting out of the house. I was hanging out with bad kids and drinking.
My mom and I visited Daycroft at the end of my junior year. They were putting on the King and I. I was so impressed. I was boy crazy. There were all these cute boys on campus. It was its own little world. I said, what the heck I’ll go.
(The headmaster and his wife) Cobbey and Janet (Crisler) were very foreign to me. They always spoke in double-speak. I was coming from the real world and entrenched in the real world. I remember going to the chapel for his welcoming talk and he’d say, “We’re going to lift the banner high”. Everything was a metaphor or analogy. He spoke above the kids, and you could not get a hold of what he was talking about. His wife Janet was aggressively cheerful.
The Whispered Outbreak
I don’t remember how the outbreak started, but it started with the boys. You know, one disappeared, he was sick and went home. Then another boy disappeared, he was sick and went home.
It wasn’t said out loud, it was “all whispered down the lane”.
My memories are fuzzy; blame it on how weird it was. No context for this. So strange how it’s affected my memories.
One friend, Robin, discussed how scared we were, how weird this was. Beth Inman, (a 7-year-old student) lived in the girls dorm with her parents, and we could hear her crying and screaming at night down the hallway … off and on at night.
The boys just started disappearing. I don’t remember how it was addressed. There must have been some sort of announcement. I don’t remember how we learned it was “polio” either. It was presented in the form of a rumor like, “They say it’s polio”.
They eventually had to report it to the board of health, then we got vaccines. We were given strict orders not to talk to reporters. We had no access to TV-watching then anyway. I remember hearing part of a news report – ‘It shouldn’t have happened in the 20th century in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the USA.’ That made a big impression on me.
Seeking Answers, Empathy and Solace
My friend Robin and I made an appointment to see Cobbey – We said, ‘Look we’re scared, What’s going on? What’s happening to the boys that are gone?’ We were looking for assurance and information. He gave us a bunch of metaphysical b.s. He did not answer any of our concerns or express empathy. He was not engaged. My impression was that he was a little annoyed by us, like ‘Someone, please talk to these girls.’ I guess every man for himself, like all of C.S.
I know Cobbey was a fabulous scholar and lots of people admired the hell out of him, but I just didn’t “get” him. Then again, I was only 17!
Christian Silence
The overriding thing. The culture. One of the strongest things about C.S. and this time is the culture of silence, that you do not talk about these things.
The Return
When David Kennedy returned, he walked with difficulty on crutches. It didn’t occur to me to say, David, ‘Are you okay? Are you in pain?’ Like I would say now, ‘How bad was it? Are you all right?!’ There’s an agreement of silence.
Incidentally, Chris was the only one that responded to David’s comment on the Facebook Group thread about contracting polio and asked him how he was doing.
Another student, one of the sweetest guys there, returned with a paralyzed arm. It’s so unlike me, now 50 years later, to not reach out and say how can I help?
Most came back after Christmas break.
Nothing was said, I don’t remember anything being said. Mostly just kids came back.
I don’t want to say I was oblivious. It’s odd that it didn’t occur to me that I might not want to go back. On one level I just accepted it as this stuff happens. It’s just so backwards. It’s normalized.
The Onus
My mother’s primary concern was to prayerfully handle her own fear. C.S. is every man for himself. The onus is on you to unsee the unpleasant reality in front of you. Mom was afraid my father would say get her out of there. We never had a discussion about not returning. No one asked how I felt about it when I came home.
We knew that board of health was mandating the vaccine. It was just announced at some time we would get the drops. My mother may have been told.
The Atmosphere
There were no visitors during quarantine. I was so much in my own little world, we did the school play during that time -- Carousel -- and there were hardly any guys left to play in it. We limped along, a feeling of just carrying on.
The Lasting Memory
I had so many defenses up as a teen that I was able to slide on by. Only in hindsight do I see how weird it was, and my overwhelming memory is the silence.
Mandated Vaccines and Society
Bring ‘em. I’ll take anything they want to put in my arm. I wish more people would want to take one for the greater good.
It’s symptomatic of a very individualist, cynical, divided country.
Cobbey absolutely did the right thing. He had to do it.
Kelly (Persons) Green was 10 years old when the polio virus was spreading at Daycroft School in Fall 1972.
Kelly’s high school senior yearbook photo where I believe she added the nickname.
She was one of about 130 students in the K-12 program. While she didn’t experience any symptoms at the time, it made a lasting impact on an important relationship.
What follows is a short excerpt from a text conversation with Kelly.
Kelly
I'm not C.S. anymore.
I remember being pissed about being told I had to take the vaccine when we were exempt. I actually REFUSED to take it. They had to get my Granny on the phone to make me take it!! Even though it was a drop of whatever it was on the tongue, I felt betrayed. I think I was angry with the world for a few days...and sure you remember, NO ONE LIKED BEING AROUND ME WHEN I WAS ANGRY...lol.
My grandmother was Jamaican, so there was no talking back, you just accepted that she knew what she was doing and saying. I think I felt hurt about it too because that made me realize that Granny wasn't invincible. There was God and Granny. I knew God didn't tell her I had to take it...and it has stuck with me to this day.
The headmaster must have been under immense pressure not to spread this disease, and yet vaccinating all these kids ran against the principles of the religion and family's beliefs.
He’d better be glad Granny told me to do it, or for sure I'd a been expelled for fighting them!!