1955 – Pittsburg, Pennsylvania: Some diseases killed, polio crippled children for a lifetime. Since the first epidemic in the summer of 1894 in Vermont, polio had become the disease most feared by parents. It struck children without warning, frequently causing muscle...
1955 – Corbin, Kentucky: He closed his restaurant and small hotel, Sanders Court and Café, after 25 years in business. Since the new Interstate 75 bypassed Corbin, truckers and families traveling through on U.S. 25 no longer stopped in for his delicious food. At age...
July 6, 1974 – Pacific Ocean – 85 miles off the coast of San Francisco: It was only the second day out, and the 15-foot rubber raft was already in trouble. A low-pressure system kicked up 35-knot winds and a huge 30-foot wave flipped the raft and the two men on board...
February 21, 2012 – Mobile Infirmary Hospital, Mobile, Alabama: The doctor called Barbara in the late afternoon. There was urgency in his voice. He wanted her in Mobile for an early morning biopsy the following day, and she would need a driver. Her sister Kathy...
1959 – Kuala Kangsar, Malaysia: The headaches and fatigue had persisted for several months. Anthony Burgess blew it off as a mysterious tropical illness, but he finally agreed to his wife Lynne’s request to see a doctor. Now the 42-year-old English teacher sat...
1958, Nashville, Tennessee: The scars were deep. They had been there since childhood. He could remember each time a child laughed at him. Mel Tillis was having success writing songs since arriving in Nashville two years earlier, but his real love and dream was to be...