Trillium Woods Remembers

Trillium Woods asked residents to reminisce and share memories from other moments in time that resemble what we’re all facing today. Here are a few stories residents shared with us:

George K. Remembers 

This is the second quarantine I’ve experienced in my 85 years of life. So far things have worked out well. We all know the second event I’m referring to which is still in progress. For me the first event occurred in the summer of 1946 when polio ran rampant in Minnesota. Schools closed early and opened two weeks late, movie theaters closed, and swimming pools and lakes were forbidden territories. Minneapolis and suburbs quarantined all children to their homes and yards for the summer. The only exceptions were children already exposed to their next-door neighbors could continue being together.

My Mom and Dad bought us a croquet set and an encyclopedia entire volume of books. My brother and I were scheduled to attend Camp Warren in Eveleth, MN for the second session but the camp decided not to bring a second wave and kept the first group for the entire camping season. Included in that first group of campers was my closest friend from down the street and our own Larry Y. When they got back to Minneapolis and the quarantine was lifted, the first person I got together with was my friend from down the street. Within a very short time both he and I were down sick with polio. He had ridden back on the bus, sitting next to him was a boy who ended up in an iron lung. My friend and I recovered fairly quickly. My only problem was ending up with a curvature of the spine. I hope this quarantine will turn out better!

Dick P. Remembers

Rationing was standard in New York during World War II. We all had ration cards for different things. My dad had one for gas because he traveled a lot selling supplies for defense. One of the nice memories was going to the butcher shop when meat was scarce. My mom (a dietician) would always ask the butcher to give me a hot dog and I always got one. I ate it raw. Delicious! Sometimes we would bring it home and cut it up in pea soup, giving the mass of green liquid greater flavor.