Wednesday 7 Feb 1945
Went to school. Mom wasn’t going to let me but did anyway. I couldn’t write, take gym or typing. I listen to the radio programs then went to bed. I have 66 points.
Thursday 8 Feb 1945
Friday 9 Feb 1945
Went to school. Got another job. I work in room 116 in the first grade helping the teacher. Went over town + got my self a new red dress. Listen to the radio programs + went to bed.
Saturday 10 Feb 1945
No school today. Put up my hair. Listened to the radio. Went to the hospility. Dad has his operation took 1 hr. Ned left today at 1:00 o’clock. Went to “town club” with Tonkin, Frankie, Pat, Sally, Sally danced with “Wilbert Farmer.” Frankie mad at me. Tonkin, Hines, Cheese, Pee Wee, + I went to MacTiery. Had a lot of fun.
My Response
If you remember from last time, Grandma had used iodine for her sore fingers from volleyball. She left it on for apparently a long time and it burned her fingers! I am assuming the points she mentioned on Wednesday had to do with her typing class because she couldn’t type in class that day. Good thing she did well on the test!
And now I have a better idea of what Grandma’s dad was doing in the hospital – awaiting an operation. He has been there since before the first of the year though and I know I don’t know what hospital wait times were like in 1945, but I have a hard time believing he had to wait for over a month to get an operation. Especially if whatever he was in there for was bad enough for blood transfusions. Maybe in later entries there will be more information.
Fellow genealogists, I’m curious, have any of you tried to get hospital records? If so, were you successful and how did you go about it? I want to find a record of my Grandma’s dad to see why he was admitted to the hospital that he later died in (he died of something other than what he went in there for). I want to see if the family rumor is right or not.
Melissa Barker
Hello, thought I would comment about the hospital records. Not sure where the surgery took place, I am guessing Michigan? But most hospital records, if they still exist, are confidential and not open to the public usually. Most likely they have been destroyed by now. If the hospital still exists, I would call the records department and just ask and see if the records still exist and if they are open to the public. If the hospital is not in existance, possibly check with a local historical society, genealogical society or maybe even contact the state archives in the state this hospital was located. Hopefully someone can tell you if the records exist or not and if they are open to the public.
Hope this helps.
Melissa Barker
Houston County, TN. Archivist/Records Manager
Professional Genealogist for Tennessee
NikiMarie
The surgery did take place in Michigan and the hospital does not exist anymore. I will see about the state archives or maybe the historical society from that area. Thank you for the advice!