Life & Death on the Farm - 1944
Philip, the manager of the Curry Senior Tech
Center att 520 Turk Street decided in 2024 to start a poetry and prose class.
Philip has a history of working with poetry and prose and has written around 8 or more theatrical play scripts.
In the class we have people who have had their poetry published and Philip thought I would be a good choice to write a theatrical script for a ten minute play. He said there are groups that put on short ten page or so scripts at various theatrical venuses. I was astounded, I might have a play produced and acted on an actual stage!
He also suggested I might write some prose and creat a story about my life growing up on a farm in Illinois.
I am almost finished with a script about two women and problems with their husbands that Phillip things might be performed on the Sutter Street Theatre.
Note: In March of 2025 I have started to write a short story about my first four years of living on a farm in Illinois and the first big trauma in my life.
Characters
- Charles Buntjer - Son
- Walter Buntjer - Father
- Edna Peterson Buntjer - Mother
- Yvonne Buntjer - Chuck's Sister
- Country Doctor
- City Doctors
Settings:
- 1940 - A Farm in Northern Illinois
- 1944 - Big City Hospital
Overview
- Health Care circa 1944
Book 1 - Charles Walter Buntjer's Life
Life & Death on the Farm - 1944
by
Charles Walter Buntjer
Chapter 1 - Family Values
Walter Buntjer's family came from Germany in 1905 and setteled in northern Illinios on a farm. Edna Peterson's grandfather also came from Germany in 1865 and found land that was available to homestead. It was said he slept in a tree to be safe at night due to the abundance of wolves! Somehow, Walter met Edna and they were married in 1930. They both went to one room schools and graduated from grade school and then had to go out and work. Walter was a great farmer and Edna was great managing the expenses. They both worked 10 or more hours everyday.
Even with little education, they managed to save enough money after a few years to put down a payment to buy a 160 acre farm. They lived on a small farm a half mile away and worked each farm to pay the mortgage. They had a daughter in 1932 and decided to name her Yvonne. No German names like Edna. At that time there wasn't any electricity in the house, no running water or a bathroom. You always tried to go to the bathroom before going to bed as one had to walk about 50 feet to the backyard and use the outhouse, a two holers. There wasn't any toilet paper so one used an old Sears Catalogue. One could also check out the products offered in the catalogue while doing one's business. One had to go outside, even in the winter when it was freezing to pump water for use inside the house. The one good thing is there was a gas stove used to cook and heat water.
There wasn't electricity on the farm until 1936 due to the President pushing through a mandate to electrify the entire country. They bought a vacumn cleaner in the late 1940s, a canister Electrolux! They also bought a washing machine but didn't have indoor plumbing so had to heat water and pour into the machine, then drain the hot water and replace with clean water. Then put the clothes through a wringer and hang the clothes outside on a clothes line. In the winter the wet clothes dried on a wooden rack inside the house next to a heating register in the floor. The family finally had running water and an indoor bathroom, but it wouldn't happen until 1952. Hard to believe.
Chapter 2 - Its a Boy - February 4th, 1940
The family figured there wasn't going to be anymore children but they were in for a big surprise. Edna suddeny found out at 41, she was pregnant. There was a big celebration, maybe the baby would be a boy! The baby was born on February 4th, 1940. A boy! He was born in the small two room house a mile from the 160 acre farm they were buying. Yvonne interviened and said they were calling him Charles because she at eight years old, was reading about English history and read about King Charles so that was the new babies name minus the King.
Charles was two weeks old and after the cows were milked and so on, the family was going to move to the bigger house on farm they were buying. It was eight p.m. and Walter hitched up a horse to a hay wagon and Edna and Yvonne wrapped Charles up in blankets and off they went to the big house. Yvonne said it was magic, aa full moon and two feet of snow and a horse pulling the family home! She wondered if that was the reason later in life, Charles loved to travel the world.
A routine was established as the years went by. Yvonne took care of Charles as she was eight years older and loved him so much, it was mutual. Much of the time Walter and Endna would be out tilling the land and taking care of the livestock most of the day.
Chapter 3 - Family Crisis
It was 1944 and Charles just had his forth birthday in February. In April Edna told the children it was spring cleaning time. They strung ropes all over the front yard, fastened them to the house and fence and put six foot long boards under the ropes to keep them high enough to hang things onto them. All the rugs and quilts and so on were hung on the ropes and there was a wire twisted into a shape like a tennis racket that they beat the rugs to get the dirt out of them. The rugs would stay outside for a few days if the weather cooperated. There wasn't a vacumn cleaner until the late 1940s.
Of course, Charles had to harrash his sister. She of course, loved it and started to chase him around the rugs hanging on the ropes. Lots of screaming and laughing. Edna was not amused, too much to do in a short time.
Suddenly Charles crumpled to the ground, held his stomach and cried. He couldn't get up so they carried him into the house and put him on a couch in a room next to the kitchen so they could keep an eye on him. He cried all day and night so the family put him in the car and off to the small town to see the local doctor. He poked Charles and said it was stomach flu and to take him home and keep him quiet and warm.
Two days went by and Charles was much worse, bent onto a fetal position, crying all the time. What to do? Finally the family put him into the car and off to Freeport and to the best hospital there, a Catholic Hospital. They arrived at the Emergency Entrance and the nurses and doctors were apalled at how ill Charles was.
Chapter 4 - Freeport Hospital
A Young doctor came out after researching what was wrong with Charles and told the family he had appendicitis and might not live. He asked why did they wait so long.
They rushed Charles into the operating room and after several hours, came out and told the family the doctors had to cut an opening almost four inches long and inside the appendics had burst and the entire organs inside Charles were covered with a green slime and infected with Peritonitis. They said they weren't sure about his survival.
Some of the nurses were nuns and so wonderful, took such care of Charles and the family. Charles was in a coma and days went by and he continued to get worse. What to do, not too much the doctors told the family. Just wait for a miracle.
Chapter 5 - Miracle Drug
The young doctor didn't know what to do. He talked to another young doctor who was a friend and located in Chicago. He wondered if there was any hope to save a young boys life.
The Chicago doctor said the British were doing drug testing in the South Pacific as they were hopefully perfecting the use of Penicillin. It had been know for years penicillin could be used to cure some health issues but wasn't perfected for use. They refined penicillin and then flew the drug to the South Pacific to test on the injured soldiers. There was a very high rate of infection and deaths. After testing penicillin, almost over 90 percent of men survived.
The Chicago doctor said they had just received some dosages of penicillin and were going to try it out on patients. The Freeport doctor said it was an emergency and was it possible to get some of the penicillin to his hospital. Chicago is about 90 miles from Freeport and they said they would try to do the paper work and get the vaccine to Freeport as soon as possible.
The penicillin arrived withing less than ten hours and was givien to Charles. Days went by and Charles still hadn't come out of a coma and his skin was turning almost black. Everyone, the doctors and nurses and nuns and the family were devistated.
Finally a priest came in and asked it he could do the last rites. The family was Protestant but figured it couldn't hurt. The priest put his hand on Charles' forehead and held the rosary and cross in front of Charles' face and chanted in Latin. Lots of crying.
Suddenly Charles' eyes opened up and he looked up and said, "What are you doing? Keep away from me!" There was a riot, laughing and carrying on.
It was a miricale due to the young doctor in Freeport, his doctor friend in Chicago an the British doing research on Penicillin.
Chapter 6 - Recuperating
Charles was in the hospital for over a month recuperating. The nurses and nuns loved to take turns putting Charles into a wheelchair and pushing him all over the hospital. He soon know many patients and loved to talk to them.
He eventually came home and still couldn't walk and was put in the big bedroom downstairs where he parents slept. Better than his bedroom on the second floor. His sister had to go to school and his parents had to go out and do the chores. Charles was told to stay put, there was food, drinks, magazines and so on for him to enjoy. The parents went out around noon and said they would be back in a few hours.
A few hours went by and Charles decided he needed to do something so went to get out of bed and slowly slid onto the floor. Of course, he couldn't get up so laid there for a few hours. His parents came back inside and of course, were very mad but also worried. Are you alright? Charles said he was fine but couldn't get up. The parents told him he as a bad boy not to follow instructions but they were happy he was alright.
A few more weeks went by and Charles was able to stand and start to walk again. Soon he would start first grade in a one room school house and the rest is history!
So, a happy ending for everyone and especially Charles!
Yvonne (Sister) - Charles - Edna (Mother) - 1940
Created
on 2025.03.28
Updated on
2025.03.29