Express Archives These four of the Mill Hall children who were afflicted with polio in the 1952 epidemic are achieving progress in their fight to regain their health. At top left is Dennis Manno, 9, and at right is his sister, Donna Mae, 13, who have recovered well from mild cases and are not being treated at the crippled children’s clinic of Community Service at Lock Haven. At bottom left is John Wolfe, 13, with his brother, Larry. At bottom right is Jay Confer, 8. John and Jay are both patients at the Crippled Children’s Hospital at Elizabethtown, where they are being given the prolonged treatment which, it is hoped, will restore them to healthy activity, in time.

(Editor’s Note: The Express is publishing an article and photographs that ran in 1956.)

MILL HALL — Jay Confer, 8; John Wolfe, 13; Donna Mae Manno, 13; Dennis Manno, 9; Anthony Bonadio, Jr., who was seven years old in 1952 and his sister, Roseann Bonadio, who is seven now, were afflicted with the dreaded disease polio when it swept through this area in 1952. Infantile paralysis crippled some of these children from their necks to their feet and took the life of one.

Little Anthony Bonadio was the one who died. His sister, Roseann, was more fortunate. Only her left leg was affected. She must go to the hospital three times a week for treatment.

Parents Interviewed

There is much to tell about the other children who lived. The parents of these children have been interviewed and each one has a different story.

Confer Children

Jay Confer is the oldest child in the Confer family where the epidemic struck hard. David, Gary and Gale today are well and home with their parents. Jay is at the Crippled Children’s Hospital in Elizabethtown. All four Confer children had polio-myeletis infection, but Jay had developed a curvature and it weakened his breathing muscles.

This child went from one hospital to another. In August 1952 he went to Geisinger Hospital and in September of the same year he went to the Polyclinic Hospital in Harrisburg. Then he came home because the doctors advised physical therapy treatment that he could get at the clinic in Lock Haven. On April 11, 1956, he was taken to Elizabethtown to the Children’s Hospital. Jay attends school and is in third grade.

His family, meaning his parents because he can’t have any company under 16 years of age, can visit him the first and third Sundays of each month.

Visit Clinic Regularly

Gary wears his braces off and on, and David and Gary must go to the clinic frequently. Their visits to the clinic started in May.

Mrs. Confer said the “March of Dimes” is the most wonderful thing for children who have polio.

“It’s everything they say it is and the Foundation does everything it can to make your child well,” she testifies. Jay’s father, Dean, is employed at the Firestone store in Lock Haven.

John Wolfe and Jay Confer are in the same hospital but not the same ward. Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Wolfe spent Christmas Day with their boy. John is in a cast from his neck to his hips. He has had to have braces for his teeth because his cast holds his head so high, and at night he must wear shoes to bed with straps around his thighs and hips to keep his legs straight. This child is happy. He can use his arms but his legs have been very bad. He doesn’t know when he will get home. He is kept busy with school work and scouting. They were even on a TV program. He will be 13 on Jan. 22.

March of Mothers

Mrs. Wolfe will march with the mothers on Jan. 30, in the polio campaign.

Donna Mae Manno and her brother, Dennis, had what they call a mild cause of polio. They were at Geisinger Hospital for two weeks in August 1952. Today they go to the clinic in Lock Haven when it is necessary.

Mrs. Ralph Manno is more than grateful.

“I am behind the polio drives or anything aiding polio 100 percent. I think all should do what they can to help, we don’t know when it might strike and any family might get this terrible and frightening disease.”

The Anthony Bonadio family no longer lives here. They moved to New Haven, Conn., this summer. They lost a boy seven years old and their little girl still needs treatment.

The mothers of healthy children will march to aid the fight against polio on Jan. 30.