Sharon Bates, Polk County

Interviewee: Sharon Wilson Bates
Interviewer: Annette Wetteland
Date of Interview: 10/30/07
Location of Interview: Des Moines, Iowa
Run Time: Approximately 60M

Cassette
Biographical Data Form
Oral History Release
Photographs (3 original; 16 duplicates)
Transcript

Sharon Wilson Bates was born in Detroit, Michigan in the fall of 1944. Her parents returned to her father’s Rippey homestead after the war. “We lived in Rippey for a couple of years,” recalled Bates, “until they moved to Perry. We moved into a home that ironically enough – had been in the family prior to ours.  I lived in that house in Perry until I was 18.” Bates was seven when she got polio in 1952. She was treated at Blank Memorial Hospital in Des Moines for about six weeks before she was transferred to Broadlawns Hospital for rehabilitation and further care. In her oral history, she recalled the day they arrived at the hospital, “By the time we got to Des Moines, I couldn't move nothing. From my chin on down, I was completely paralyzed. It moved just that fast. I was a big kid and I can remember my dad standing in the hot sun holding me. The line just took forever that day. Parents with kids that were sick and they were just inching their way into the hospital. I can’t tell you how many people there were, but I know my mom said we stood for two or three hours. Then, I remember going into this tiny room and being put on the table. This young doctor came in and examined me and looked at my dad and my mom. He said that there was no need to do a spinal tap on her. He said, ‘Without a doubt, this is polio.’”