A PICTURE OF COURAGE
Ann S. Brown © 2024
From a boy to a man, Bill was a picture of courage and determination. Born in 1901, he was a healthy and active child. Then when Bill was nine years old his left knee began swelling and hurting him. With rest his condition did not improve so Bill’s mother took him to the doctor. The diagnosis was shocking. The doctor said Bill had TB of the bone and his left leg must be removed. We can not imagine how that mother and son felt as they left the doctor’s office that day. Bill’s father had TB of the bone, or so the doctor said. He lost one of his legs and finally his life.
On the appointed day, before time to go to the hospital, young Bill crawled up under his house. He went to the lowest part – as far as he could go, but there was no refuge or safety for him there. Someone went up under the house and pulled him out. The hospital at Lansing, NC may have looked as big and scary as a giant to young Bill. That was where the surgery would take place. At the hospital in 1910, we don’t know what kind of numbing or anesthesia was used. But his family has said that Bill’s mother helped hold him down on the operating table while his left leg was being cut off above the knee. The pain and suffering of both mother and son must have been terrible that day.
Slowly Bill recovered and learned to walk using two crutches. He was determined he could do most things the other boys did, and he had the courage to try. One day while trying to walk a split rail fence using two crutches, Bill fell off and broke one of his arms. After that he threw the right crutch away and kept going. Bill grew up to be a strong man and a good hard working citizen. He married and raised a family, six girls and one boy, and was a good provider. Bill farmed – he could plow around a hillside with one good horse and the support of his crutch. Bill was a mechanic, he could repair vehicles. He drove a 2 ton Chevrolet truck with a clutch and a straight gear shift. Bill used his truck to haul 5 gallon cans of milk to the cheese processing plant in Lansing, NC. He traveled a route over the dirt roads in the Lansing and Helton areas picking up the heavy metal cans. The weight of those cans filled with milk was no problem for Bill. He got a certain balance with his crutch and then took hold of the handles of the can and lifted it right up on the back of his truck.
Bill’s daughter said he wore his crutches out quickly. Store bought ones didn’t last him very long, so he made his own. The wood had to be hickory – it lasted the longest. Bill had an artificial leg, but he said it slowed him down and he never wore it. He could outrun his children when they were young and they took great delight in that. When Bill and his family lived on Helton Creek, near the Virginia line, there was a foot log bridge across the creek to his house. I often wondered if the bridge was a problem for him. I doubt it.
Bill lived his life with courage and determination. He set an example for us all. After he passed away in 1970 the attending physician said Bill never had TB of the bone. There was no sign of it in his body.
The Jones Memorial Infirmary in Lansing was the first hospital in Ashe County. Built in 1883 and closed in 1938.
Written for his daughter: Sylvia Spencer