Alhambra - 1941

Dr. Marshall took me up to see the baby about 7 p.m. He was lying in the crib and was really a sight. He weighed only (five pounds, five ounces - four pounds, four ounces was stated in the history) and he was sort of blue and did not move a muscle. The next morning about 10, Dr. Bause called me at work and said that he had examined the baby and that he found he was partially paralyzed, and that it appeared that he had been injured in birth. He said that he could not tell at that time whether the injury would be permanent or whether it would clear up. He said sometimes it takes years for such a thing to clear up and sometimes it never does.

This was a terrible blow. Of course I could not tell Dot and I had no one to talk to about it. I called Dr. Marshall and told him of Dr. Bause's report. Dr. Marshall was rather indignant and said that the baby had not been injured in birth but that the birth had been difficult and that they had had a very hard time getting it to breathe. Dorothy's mother had planned to come out and help when the baby arrived and so I called her immediately and told her to come. When I met her at the Union Station I could not hold back the tears any longer as she was the first person I could talk to about my troubles. Dorothy knew nothing about except that the baby was premature and had to stay in an incubator. She had not seen him except briefly.

After about a week we brought Dorothy home from the hospital but Paul was too weak and tiny to bring home. He stayed in the hospital an additional two weeks and would have stayed longer had I not insisted on bringing him home. After four weeks he weighed the same as he did when he was born and I was sure that the nurses were not taking enough time to feed him properly. So we finally got consent of Dr. Bause to bring him home. We have some motion pictures of Paul the day we brought him home from the hospital and anyone can see how little and thin he was. We fed him on a two hour schedule around the clock. This meant feeding him almost constantly as it took him most of an hour to take four ounces of milk. I could easily see why he had not gained any weight in the hospital. Within a few days after bringing him home he began to gain weight and has never quit as near as I can see to this day. (September 1958). By the time we brought him home he had gained movement in his arms and legs and appeared to be normal or near normal.


YEAR (FILE ) SUBJECT
---- ------- ---------------------------------
1941 (4663) Sarah Jane Israelson and baby Paul
1941 (9111) Sarah Jane Israelson

I found my work with the I.C.C. in Los Angeles very interesting. I recall one case in Arizona involving the Tovrea Packing Company. This was my first trip over to Arizona and I found Phoenix quite a city. Ellis Lonenecker went along with me on this trip. I was to teach him how to make an investigation. We worked for three weeks and when we were through we had evidence of transportation of goods in interstate commerce without a permit. In fact this became a test case as to what a private carrier could or could not do with its own trucks. I shall never forget that while we were there they had some heavy rains and water flowed down the Salt River through the Phoenix area for the first time in many years. One evening they roped off Central Avenue in-the downtown section and had a big celebration including street dancing, etc. because the resivoirs were all full for the first time since the dams had been built.

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