Sally Holliday autographs a copy of her book, "Rea of Hope," for Gina Dailey. Onlookers are Geoffrey C. Fuller and Rotarian Wanda Robertson.

Holliday chats with Marilyn Pemberton.

September 23, 2008

The summer of 1940 was a tragic time for St. Albans, and especially for the Fletcher family. in their new home on College Hill.

"We had a terrible epidemic," Sally Holliday told Putnam Rotarians during their luncheon meeting today at Wellington's. Sally was one of the four Fletcher siblings.

"They closed all of the fair grounds, the movie theaters, the swimming pools, any place where people would congregate," she said. "But still, the four of us took polio.

"Three of us had the virus, and we got through that all right, but my sister [Betsy] had bulbar polio and she continued to get worse.

"There wasn't a hospital in the area that would accept polio patients. They didn't know what to do with them."

The days of spasms, fever and pain eventually passed and left the nine-year-old child with little use of her lower body.

At Morris Memorial children's hospital in Milton, "she was totally immobilized, strapped to a table for about six months," said Holliday. "When they did that, my mom said she couldn't understand how the heavy weights on her body could help."

In 1943, Sister Elizabeth Kenny published a book on polio victims, "And They Shall Walk."

Sister Kenny had had some success treating polio victims in Australia, and when she relocated in Minneapolis, Betsy's mother determined to approach her. "She went to Minneapolis -- didn't know a soul -- and she just followed Sister Kenny around," said Holliday. "Finally Sister gave in." Betsy Fletcher from St. Albans was her second patient in the United States.

"Mom took all four of us back to Minneapolis. We had to put Betsy through the window on the train on a Bradford frame. We had to change trains in Chicago, and porters came to transfer Betsy.

"When they saw [Betsy] in Minneapolis, they couldn't believe she couldn't lift her head off the table."

The treatment was exhaustive, intensive, and extensive. Hot packs were applied twice daily for four hours each time. And gradually, Betsy began to respond.

She was able to attend high school -- with the aid of a push chair for her books. And after graduation, she enrolled in college.

The next summer, Betsy underwent seven surgeries at Warm Springs, Georgia, the same time FDR was there. "They were taking muscles from one part of the body, and placing them in other parts."

Betsy graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

She returned to Charleston and married. "She was never expected to have any children; she had three little girls in four years.

"Betsy never had any help. She had to learn how to solve problems. She found she could put the baby in a port-a-crib and walk holding on to the crib."

She raised the girls as a single parent "on a shoestring."

But the struggle with polio was not the only trial for Betsy Rea.

She became an alcoholic, and fought to overcame her dependency in a new battle. She was active in the Charleston area Alcoholics Anonymous for eighteen years.

"I have had so many people," said Holliday, "who have come to me and said, 'If it were not for Betsy, I would not be here today. I just wouldn't have made it.'

"Betsy found her greatest strengths in being there for other people."

After she died in 1999, an AA treatment center on Charleston's Lee Street was dedicated as the "Rea of Hope" Fellowship Home in honor of Betsy Fletcher Rea.

Betsy had been the editor of the campus newspaper in college. She kept a diary in her early years as a polio victim. She wrote numerous letters.

Holliday's book, "Rea of Hope," draws on all these sources to share Betsy's story in her own words with others -- a rich treasury of inspiration for all of us.

Betsy's final battle was with cancer. Holliday writes, "When she learned that it had metastasized to several organs in her body, she put her clothes on and informed the doctors that she was going home with her family."

And the family was with her when she passed. "She lifted her head up and her eyes were wide and clear. She smiled a wonderful smile that that truly made her face come alive and glow. . . .

"I sensed and felt that the terrible weight of sadness that had enveloped us all had been lifted. Betsy had given many gifts in her lifetime, but for me, her greatest gift was given in her death. . . .

"I'll never be afraid to die."

Author Sally Holliday is a founding member of Saint Timothy's-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church (1963). She has served 37 years as founder and president of the Putnam County Board of Parks and Recreation. She was serving with the School Building Authority when state grants were authorized for renovations and additions at Hurricane High and Hurricane Middle Schools. The author is married to retired Circuit Judge Jim Holliday. Among their five children are Elizabeth Rogan, DVM, and WVU football coach "Doc" Holliday.

Holliday noted the role of Rotary International in the fight against polio: By the mid-1950s, the dreaded virus had afflicted some 1.6 million people in the United States alone. 53,000 people were struck by polio in 1952, which was the peak year. A vaccine was developed in 1954, and in 25 years polio in the United States had been eradicated.

The World Health Organization launched a drive against the disease, and by 2001 polio had been confined to ten countries.

Rotary international has given $500 million and raised another $123 million to fight polio. The Microsoft Foundation has given $1.5 billion for immunizations in poor countries.

Mass vaccinations are now underway from Nigeria to India in a final push to wipe out the disease.