The "Quarantine's From The Past: Part I - 1941" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The Sunday LNP newspaper had quite a few stories on the continuing pandemic we are still experiencing and probably will continue to experience for perhaps another year or more.  One of the stories was about a retiree from nearby Lititz, Pennsylvania by the name of Joe Weaver who was among the many children who were required to stay indoors during the polio outbreak in 1941.  For most of you, including myself, 1941 means nothing, since you and I weren't born at the time.  Accompanied the story was a photograph that appeared in the newspaper showing Joe using a jigsaw at the Lancaster Recreation and Playground association.  Joe was glad to be able to use it since it meant the end of his quarantine in 1941. (A note here would be the fact that Joe is not using goggles which would be required today).

Joe Weaver, polio quarantine survivor.

Joe loved to work with his hands and still remembers when they closed the shop and made everyone go home due to the polio quarantine.  Joe's dad was a supervisor at Armstrong Linoleum and they lived on Shippen Street at the time.  He had to walk to school and walk downtown to go to the movies.  When he was in 7th grade he wanted to join the track team, but his tuberculosis test came back positive.  A later chest X-ray showed it had cleared up, but he was discouraged from doing any strenuous physical activity.  At the time the only form of entertainment was the radio, since the television, video games and computer hadn't been invented.  He did remember making necklaces from macaroni.  Joe's sister, Annie, remembered that the polio scare began in August of 1941.  She said that schools didn't open until a month or so into the usual school year.  To make up the time they missed, their holiday vacations throughout the year were recalled.  Children were not allowed to go to church, the movies, the library, the park, swimming pools or anywhere in public.  Annie didn't remember anyone wearing masks back then.  Joe attended St. Anthony's Catholic School, East Junior High and Lancaster McCaskey High School where he loved making things of metal and wood.  

Photograph from the Lancaster Sunday News
on September 7, 1941 showing Joe working at
the Lancaster Recreation and Playground Asso.

Joe spent two years in the U.S. Navy and then began working at Armstrong Cork Company.  In the newspaper story, Joe reported that he didn't actually know anyone who had polio, but still remembers being kept indoors to avoid the disease.  Dennis Weaver, the son of Joe, tells that his dad was a real do-it-yourselfer.  He told the newspaper reporter that he worries about how his father will fare during the new coronavirus quarantine.  His dad is accustomed to going out for breakfast and lunch often, but will have to curtail that for now.  Joe is now 92 and still loves working with machinery.  During his current quarantine, he is watching a bit more television than he had in the past.  He does try and take care of the flowerbeds and bird feeders.  He actually made his own mask out of cloth.  This veteran of quarantines advised everyone to greet each day with a purpose.  He advises everyone to start a hobby if you doh't have one.  Do anything where you are creating something.  He reports that when he goes to bed at night, he thinks about what he as accomplished during the day.  And, being that he has been through two quarantines during his lifetime, he should know.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.