Today marks the date in 1882 that Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of the bacteria that causes Tuberculosis, also known as TB or (for us family historians) Consumption. To commemorate World Tuberculosis Day, I’d thought I’d share a personal story about TB. A story about how it brought my maternal Grandma from her hometown of Marion, Indiana to the high desert of New Mexico.
As a young teen, Eve won the Witter Bynner Poetry Prize hosted by Scholastic. After winning this prize, Bynner invited her to visit him in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Bynner was a mover and a shaker whose parties and creative life were well known and enjoyed by many. Bynner’s lovely estate is now The Inn of the Turquoise Bear.
Santa Fe in the 1930s was a wild place.
Coupled with the win and her publication in Saplings, it was truly the opportunity of a lifetime for Eve.
While scared to leave her hometown of Marion, Indiana she was quite sick with Tuberculosis and was encouraged by her doctor to make the trip to a warmer, drier climate. Not only did the move help her heal, it set her life in motion in wildly unexpected ways.
Eve’s life became filled with music and writing and art. Her adventures took her from Santa Fe to LA, Chicago (where she and my Grandpa built their family), and New York City over several decades. It wasn’t until Grandpa Phil died that she returned to the mountains of northern New Mexico.
She spent the last two decades of her life in or near the mountains that called her back after all those decades away.
I’m currently reading Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green and am terribly aware that Tuberculosis is a horrible disease. The statistics are heartbreaking still and many who suffer from it don’t fair as well as my Grandma Eve did. I am forever grateful for the people who came into her life at the right times so that she could not only survive, but thrive.
Onward,
Melissa
I. loved learning about your grandmother and her journeys. What a beautiful woman! Whenever I think about my ancestors, it always blows my mind how many things had to go right for me to end up being me. And this story certainly conjures those thoughts. Thanks for lovingly sharing this with us.
Hi Jessica! I’m so glad you enjoyed learning a smidge about Eve. I am in continuous wonder at the fact that I am even here today to get to share my ancestors’ stories. It’s all such an immense gift.