William F. Geary, Clay County

Interviewee: William Geary
Interviewer: Kate Scott
Date of Interview: 8/13/07
Location of Interview: Spencer, Iowa
Run Time: Approximately 75M

Cassette
Biographical Data Form
Oral History Release
Photographs 1) Geary Family Snapshot, Buena Vista Co., 1940; 2) Studio Family Portrait, 1947
Letter from Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) regarding the American Disability Act
Transcript

Bill Geary (pictured on right of photo)
Buena Vista Co., 1940.

Bill Geary was only twelve years old when he contracted polio in 1942 but he was no stranger to illness. Bill (and his older brother Anthony) suffered from scarlet fever as young children; they were treated for their scarlet fever at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. “We were the two sickest boys down there,” Bill said. When Bill was diagnosed with polio in 1942, the University of Iowa physicans took a special interest in him, “the doctors in Iowa City kept wanting to see me...we kept getting cards from [Dr. Steindler] and everything – they always wanted to see me. The doctors told me that they wanted to operate on me. They said if I did not have this operation, why, in 15-20 years, I would not be able to walk at all. So, they had a conference. I stood in front of a whole bunch of doctors. There were probably 25-30 doctors there. Dr. Steindler was sitting on a bench right there in front of me, he said, ‘you go ahead and do the surgery on the hip – leave the foot alone. It is too much on him to do both at the same time.'”

“See, the thing about it,” said Bill, “was that I was just three years old when all this started happening. I don’t know what two good legs are. Here I am. I don’t know what it means to have two good legs. I never had two good legs.”