[page 1]

[torn] beneficent providence and guidance in [illegible] deaths of dearest and that seems like a dream at times.

1

In Sept. 4 1933 when a hurricane was brewing I was at the hotel in Live Oak. My suitcase was packed and was waiting for work from the S.B.H. Suddenly I heard water buckling in the bath room. Something had hit the roof but fortunately it was over the bath tub. About eleven at night the call came from Mrs. Laurie Jean Reid, Director of Bureau of P.H.N. She told me to come to Jax and leave my car at the SBH and go by train to W Palm Beach and report to the R.C [Red Cross]. Before we finished talking the telephone was out. When I went down stairs the clerk warned me not to go. Said some miles from Live Oak a big bus was standing on end, practically submerged. He said that the place could be used as a hold up. Said lights were hung up to show how to go. The hotel garage was L shaped. When we went to get my car, one half of the garage was down. When I got to the place where the lights were I stopped to get my bearings,and another car came up and stopped. I lowered my window and told them I was a State nurse on my way to Jax, and asked if I could follow them. They were two men trying to get to Boynton as they couldn't hear from their relatives. They were very nice and said by all means to follow them, and that they would wait for me if I stopped and help me. They were going to stop in Lake City to get some sleep. Drew sketch of lights.

[page 2]

2

No 2 Times of Devine Guidance

1- When I received a call to go the La Belle during a flood when the Caloosahatchee river overflowed, I went th othe P.O. in Ft. Myers to talk to the mail carrier from La Belle. He was a tall man. I asked him if [I] could go back with him and he said yes. "But we will have to wade in water up to my waste [sic]." Said he would leave at 3:00 PM - I knes I would be a handicap to him, but told him I would meet him at 3:00 unless I found another way to go. As I was leaving the P.O. a man said to me, "I heard you and the mail carrier said and know you must be a nurse from the Fla. State Board. I also know that two cars came in from Labelle this morning. This is the way to go. Leave here going over the bridge at Jacks Creek, go about 5 miles and watch on your R where the grass is bruised and mashed where the 2 cars from La Belle came. Something told me not to go by the Jacks Creek way so I went around it. Afterwards I was told the water over the bridge was six feet or more.

[page 3]

(3)

to me. There was only one other car to use in Pahokee would not go most of the time. I used my Ford Coupe to go on emergency calls.

Local people joined into a death squad to find bodies.

It was a tragic situation. People trying to find their dear ones. One man had his two little boys holding each one up by the hand and a big wave took one of the boys. So the father was trying to find him. It seems strange that there is such a difference in the odor of a dead human being from a dead animal. But if you have ever smelled the decaying human flesh you know the difference. Once when I was slowly crossing a bridge I saw to my right a coloured mans body in the water. Knew he was colored by his hair. Part of his scalp was gone and on[e] broken leg was at an angle. I notified the death squad.

A few weeks after the hurricane a number (Sund, March 27) of people came down "flu" was almost an epidemic. One of our graduates who was used to cities was called to a family who was ill. They had a cow and asked her if she could milk. Of course she said no. They told her the cow was gentle and they told her how to milk. When she went out in her starched uniform and can the cow heard the rustling of the uniform and move[d] away. The young nurse started after her and

[page 4]

-4-

the frightened cow began to run. Finally the nurse got the cow in a corner of the fence - and she laughed and said "well I got enough for the patients coffee anyway."

Show pictures of nurse in starched uniform and cap. Then chasing the frightened cow. And finally cow in corner of fence being milked.

[Kunger?]

In visiting a rural community for the first time I stopped a colored woman on a country road and told her the names of the midwives in that vicinity. I asked her if she knew of any other persons, men or women who were catching babies. She asked are you the doctor woman? I told her no that I was a SBH nurse, who helped helped [sic] the midwives by teaching them and sometimes visiting their cases. She said that there is a woman been mighty sick and fits. Did she fall and bight [bite] her lips I asked and - who conjured her. The woman said "Thank God' you know.' an' please go see her now." Of course I supposed the sick woman had had eclampsia and guessed about the [kunjure?] part. Found the home very near to a tobacco field.