Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 57

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922

USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 57
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 57

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Frank J. Fuhrman married Marie Zerweck in Brooklyn March 7, 1907, daughter of Charles and Emily (Welz) Zerweck of that city. Their children are: I. Mildred, born in Patchogue, graduated from school there, and attended Miss Concklin's Business School in New York City. 2. Frank A., a graduate of the local high school, and of Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken, New Jersey, with service in the second World War as a captain in the Ordnance Department, and now associated with the Swezey Coal and Feed Company. He married Elizabeth G. Wells of Sayville, Long Island, and they are the par- ents of Beverly Anne and Bruce Kent. 3. Josephine M., a graduate of the Patchogue schools, received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Mount Holyoke College, obtained her medical degree at the Long Island Col-

lege of Medicine; and interned at the hospital at Cooperstown, New York. She married Arthur Butts, of New York City, who served in World War II, and they are the parents of Susan.

DR. EARL R. CARLSON, world authority on spastic paralysis who has devoted his life to master- ing this handicap and helping those similarly afflicted, has been described as one "who had to deal with the usual human problems terribly intensified-fear of failure, fear of being pitied or laughed at, insecurity and the constant hard task of mastering, training and drilling the body, the mind, and the spirit."

This specialist in the field of spastics, Dr. Earl R. Carlson, was so injured at birth that he has never had the full, coordinated use of his muscles. Yet, in spite of this, he has been consulted by more than fifty thousand spastics or their parents; has aided in the organization of twenty-five schools for spastics in other parts of the country outside New York; and conducts, with his wife, a school at East Hampton, during the summer, and one at Pompano, Florida, in the winter.

In his book, "Born That Way," written in order to give hope and courage to thousands of spastics and other handicapped persons, Dr. Carlson says at the outset: "This book would never have been written if my entrance into the world had been as simple and dramatic as my mother's."

His mother, Margaret Anderson, was born in Veberod in southern Sweden of good country stock. Her mother stopped her milking on the eve of the birth of her seventh child and delivered her without further ado, cared for her, and then went about her household duties. Nor was there a poor physical heritage on Dr. Carlson's father's side of the family. He came to America as a stowaway when he was sixteen years old and some years later met Margaret Anderson in one of the Scandinavian colonies which sprang up in the Great Lakes region. On March 25, 1897, when Dr. Carlson was born, his parents were living in a small house in the depressed section of Minneapolis and the worst blizzard of that particu- larly hard winter was raging. The doctor was delayed by the inclement weather. When he arrived the expec- tant mother was in a critical condition and he was obliged to use forceps in order to save her life. Thus, Dr. Carlson came into the world with a damaged head, born blue and breathless. These birth injuries made Dr. Carlson a victim of spastic and athetoid paralysis. Although he did not lose motion such as is found in infantile paralysis, he suffered instead from exaggerated motions. In his later studies of the brain, Dr. Carlson hastens to assure his readers that all spastics are not the result of birth injuries, but may have faulty brain development. These cases, however, can be treated in the same way as the birth-injured spastic providing that the type of muscular disturbance, the severity of the damage of the brain and the degree of intellectual impair- ment are examined in order to determine what degree of improvement may be expected.

Dr. Carlson's childhood was concerned with learn- ing to take steps, in controlling his arm so that it would not jerk off suddenly in some direction, in learning to swallow and to talk. Long past his in- fancy he learned to walk, and it required prodigious effort and will power. His mother, during this time, never gave up hope that he would walk. She was in- clined to believe that her son's actions were retarded

Earl P. Carling

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rather than seriously restricted. Dr. Carlson began to crawl at the age of two, and was so energetic in this new-found activity that he began to grow cal- louses on his hands and knees. At first, his mother would pare them down with a knife, but later she made leather guards for his limbs. Then for years, Dr. Carlson failed to progress from the crawling stage to the walking one. Dr. Carlson recalls in his book, "Born That Way," that the neighbors did not hesi- tate to talk freely in front of him, and held various theories about "bad blood" and prenatal influences. His mother tried to prevent him from hearing these conversations, since she knew her son was not a mental defective. However, whenever she saw him nearby, her stock answer to these hypothetical dis- cussions was always that her son was "just born that way." There was more wisdom to his mother's answer than she realized, since Dr. Carlson had no idea that he was an object of pity. At three years of age he formed a friendship with tall, handsome, but shy and introspective Harold who was to be Dr. Carl- son's best man at his wedding many years later. At five and a half years old he learned to take his first unintentional steps when he supported himself by walking in the inside of a large crate, lending the same protection as two parallel bars. Dr. Carlson was com- pletely helpless without a pair of canes that his father had made for him. One day as he was playing "horse" he was suddenly left alone. Dr. Carlson was left leaning against a house without his canes. Suddenly the noon whistle blew at the brewery across the street. Then in his own words, Dr. Carl- son describes this event: "Its shriek always frightened the magnificent horses which were the pride of Min- neapolis as they drew the big brewery wagons about the city. This time a team ran away, and I was so excited that I ran too-I ran a whole block without my canes before I realized what I was doing. I could walk! It seemed too good to be true, and I rushed home to tell my mother the great news. I half-ran, half-lurched, into the room where she was having a coffee party with some neighbors, and they all cried in amazement: 'Your boy walks without canes! A miracle has happened; your prayers have been answered.' My mother alone was calm. 'No miracle,' she said calmly, 'It's the result of hard work.'

But, as Dr. Carlson points out, his mother was mis- taken. . All the training that she had given helped, but it was his complete absorption with the runaway horses and the overwhelming impulse to join them that had made the impossible possible. It was another instance of control of the emotions over ordinarily helpless limbs. His mother had a struggle with the board of education to allow her son into public school when he was eight years old. Even after the board's consent, the teachers were alarmed by his constant twitching. However, as soon as the new en- vironment became familiar to him he calmed down considerably, a condition he experienced over and over again as he learned to control his muscles and coordinate his activities. He has overcome the nerv- ousness which used to block his speech so com- pletely that he couldn't recite in class, and today speaks before large audiences.

As Dr. Carlson approached adolescence he became more self-conscious about his handicaps, and turned to reading to compensate for the pastimes he missed. He made his transition from grade school to high school when he was thirteen, but it proved too much for him, since the latter school swarmed with strang- ers. He applied to Bethel Academy in which six to twelve pupils were taught in a class and was admitted.

Since his parents were poor, Dr. Carlson felt obliged to supplement their meagre earnings by selling news- papers. This he has never regretted, for Dr. Carlson has since observed that spastic children of poor families often make better adjustments than those who are given more advantages because of their wealth. He claims these diverse interests are apt to delay the coordination of activity since there are so many separate parts to concentrate on; and coddling weakens self-discipline.

Dr. Carlson had secretly dreamed of entering col- lege and becoming an engineer or an inventor. For a year after his graduation from Bethel Academy he dreamed of this possibility; although now, through the assistance of a friend, he was able to earn money as an electrician's helper. Then he took a summer course in chemistry at the University of Minnesota. He did not do so well that first year of 1916 in college, be- cause he had now enrolled for a program of studies beyond his powers. But before his university career was at an end some years later, Dr. Carlson had ob- tained his Bachelor's and Master's degree at the University of Minnesota and a medical education at Yale Medical School. His Master's degree he re- ceived in 1923, at the age of twenty-six.

Dr. Carlson's mother died in January 1918, a victim of the terrible influenza epidemic that swept the country. Later his father passed on so that Dr. Carl- son was an orphan while he was still attending col- lege. During his college days he worked as a librarian, and was encouraged by friends who helped him to help himself. Dr. Carlson claims this is basic in the development of the spastic, for if he does not help himself he will expect coddling which does not build the self-discipline which is necessary for his growth.

Left without a family, Dr. Carlson was neverthe- less blessed with friends who opened the way to edu- cation. He worked at Princeton University for a time, and finally obtained admission to Yale after a discouraging interval of indecision on the part of the administration. It was at Princeton that Dr. Carlson met Bud Stillman, a member of the wealthy Stillman famiy. They were to become very close friends, and it was Bud Stillman who was to influence his friend to choose medicine as a career, since his interests had always been along scientific lines. Recalling that period of his life, Dr. Carlson reflects thus: "If any- one had told me then that the Stillman family would one day play an extremely important part in my life, I should have thought him mad." He spent his sum- mers at their camp at Grande Anse, Canada; they helped him financially; but perhaps more important was the personal and genuine interest that Bud Still- man and his mother both manifested in Dr. Carlson.

Dr. Carlson entered Yale Medical School in Sep- tember, 1926, and through the kindness of Dr. Dandy and Mr. Jones, he was free from financial worries. Anatomy is traditionally the terror of medical stu- dents, and Dr. Carlson was no exception to the rule. He had a good deal of trouble with dissecting and had to get help from a fellow student. However, when he was completely absorbed in his work, every- thing went well enough, and he did not have to worry about his hands getting out of control and jerking a piece of tissue to bits." One of Dr. Carlson's most valued friendships was Dr. Tilney's who was instrumental in sweeping away eventually all objec- tions that Yale had felt in admitting Dr. Carlson. He was a continual inspiration to Dr. Carlson himself. For Dr. Tilney had suffered a stroke. This did not prevent Dr. Tilney from continuing his work at the Neurological Institute of New York where Dr. Carl-

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son began working after finishing his medical educa- tion at Yale. At the Institute Dr. Carlson worked with Dr. Tilney who was studying the correlation of behavior with the structural development of the brain.

Possibly the most graphic description of the diffi- culties encountered by the spastic is best told in Dr. Carlson's words: A normal man finds no difficulty in walking along a narrow plank which lies on the ground. If the plank is raised twenty feet in the air, he will go through the same motions painfully and hesitantly, granted that he can perform them at all. He is experiencing the difficulties which beset the spastic at all times. "To be scared stiff" is no empty figure of speech, but a singularly exact one when applied to the spastic. Fear destroys the concentra- tion which enables him to control his unruly muscles.

During his work at the Institute Dr. Carlson learned many things, and it confirmed his belief that the answer to the spastic problem was not a matter of physical therapy alone. He believed that the mental growth brought about through academic training pro- moted an improvement of physical control, or at least developed the ability to circumvent the physical diffi- culty. In many cases he found there was definite physical improvement through academic education un- accompanied by physical therapy. Dr. Carlson relates this interesting incident as a result of attention the clinic was receiving in the press: "A father brought his boy to me all the way from Port Arthur, Texas, in a dilapidated car. He told me that he could not afford to stay in New York while the boy received treat- ment, but that he wanted my opinion on the case. After examining the child and finding that he could benefit from treatment, I had a talk with the father. I suggested that he find out if there were enough spastics to justify starting a special class in his home town, then get in touch with the board of education and the societies interested in crippled children, and that I would be glad to come down and explain our methods if the community was willing to co-operate. He seemed doubtful that there would be enough han- dicapped children to justify such arrangements, but shortly after he got home, he discovered fourteen in Port Arthur alone. He enlisted the aid of the board of education to supply the services of a teacher, and of the Crippled Children's Society to furnish a therapist. St. Mary's Hospital supplied space for a clinic, for which almost a hundred spastic children registered. I went down to conduct the clinic and to deliver sev- eral lectures on the spastic problem, using moving pictures to illustrate the methods of treatment used at the Institute in New York. Shortly afterward classes were started, and eventually the school was estab- lished in a building of its own. In a similar way special schools modeled on that at the Institute were established in Birmingham, Alabama; Sharon, Penn- sylvania; San Francisco; and other places."

Dr. Carlson met his future bride, Ilse Schneider, while he was a patient in a hospital. She was one of the nurses assigned to take care of him and he was impressed with the ring in her voice that made him forget that he was sick. He says her cheery way appealed to him. They had a number of talks and he told her that she would make a good supervisor for the spastic children in the clinic, since she had the ability to make patients forget themselves and their troubles. They became good friends. In his talks with Ilse he discussed his dreams of establishing a board- ing school for spastics. She offered to help him start such a school and finally discovered a house in New Rochelle. During the first year of the school's life, Dr. Carlson married Ilse Schneider. It was

through her encouragement, too, that he began to speak before large audiences. He claims that he still feels a little bit as Mark Twain did when he began his career as a lecturer. He appeared upon the platform white, trembling, perspiring freely, and barely able to utter these opening words: "Julius Caesar is dead; Napoleon is dead; and I am far from well."

Dr. Carlson and his wife decided to test the scheme of opening a school in Miami Beach. Mrs. Carlson took charge of the new establishment, while her hus- band supervised the school in New Rochelle, and commuted between New York and Florida. They learned that the children benefitted greatly from the sun, and decided then to bring their school South for the winter. Eventually their school, which provides training from the nursery level through high school, was established in permanent homes by the sea dur- ing the summer at East Hampton, Long Island, and during the winter at Pompano, Florida, where the children lead an outdoor life all year round, with the same program of mental and physical training and recreation.

In summing up, Dr. Carlson has come to this con- clusion: Every human life has its purpose, and even the most hopelessly handicapped can be useful to society.

And he continues with the courage that has colored his life: "I have sometimes been embarassed by being hailed as an example of what the handicapped person can do if he determines to overcome his difficulties. But what I have accomplished is really due to the help and guidance, throughout my life, of a host of teachers and friends. They kept me struggling against my difficulties and encouraged my belief that, by mak- ing the most of my opportunities, I could help other spastics to free themselves from the shackles of their handicap and to become useful citizens."

In a recent article in the "Saturday Evening Post," "Now They Can Speak," the author writes: "At East Hampton, Long Island, surrounded by seventy spastic children and young adults who attend his school, I talked to another man who has mastered his handicap to a remarkable degree. He is Dr. Earl R. Carlson-" and then the author continues his story.

Dr. Carlson has lectured in practically every state in the union and in twenty-seven foreign countries. In 1946 Dr. Carlson flew to England and was instru- mental in establishing a school for spastics in Bir- mingham, England, which is named the "Carlson House" in his honor. In 1948, Dr. Carlson lec- tured and held clinics in New Zealand and Australia at the invitation of their government. He is a mem- ber of the American Medical Association, New York Medical Association, Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease, Society for Research in Child Development and the Yale Club. Dr. Carlson is president of the Carlson Foundation, Inc., a non- profit corporation for the promotion of interest in the treatment, education and vocational guidance of the cerebral palsied (spastic).

LINCOLN G. SCHMIDT has served his country as a member of the armed forces, in World War II, and his neighbors as attorney, chairman of the Zon- ing Board of Appeals of the Town of Brookhaven, Police Justice of the Village of Patchogue and mem- ber of the Board of Education of Patchogue School District No. 24.

He was born in Patchogue on July 26, 1908, the son of Gustav and Charlotte A. (Liesenbein) Schmidt.

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The elder Mr. Schmidt, a native of New York City, settled in Patchogue in 1903. He was the first mail carrier appointed from a Civil Service list at the Pat- chogue Post Office. In 1911 he established the hard- ware and paint business that is now known through a wide area of Suffolk County. Its present location is at 66 to 74 East Main Street, Patchogue. Gustav Schmidt is now retired.

Lincoln G. Schmidt was graduated from the Pat- chogue High School in 1925. In 1930 he was gradu- ated from Marietta College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His scholastic standing was of such calibre that he won a Phi Beta Kappa key. In 1933 he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the Yale Law School at New Haven and the following year was admitted to the bar of New York State. He immediately began on his legal career, and has con- ducted a general practice.

From 1941 to 1943, he was Police Justice of the Village of Patchogue. He was in the United States Army in 1944 and 1945. Since his return from the military service, he has been made a member of the Board of Education of the village. He served as chairman of the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals in 1940-43. On February 1, 1948, Mr. Schmidt became the senior member of the firm of Schmidt & Fechter in association with Mahlon Fechter. Mr. Schmidt is past master of the Patchogue Lodge, No. 493, Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Rotary Club of Patchogue, the American Legion and the Vet- erans of Foreign Wars. His favorite pastime is boating.

On April 13, 1935, at Patchogue, Mr. Schmidt mar- ried Edith Nichols, daughter of Frank and Ellen (Bates) Nichols of Patchogue. Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt have three children: Edith N., born September 8, 1937; Marian, born October 12, 1940; and Franklin L., born December 31, 1946.

CHARLES THOMAS KOOP, the Patchogue attorney, was born in Brooklyn, the son of Charles H. and Mary (Clenaghan) Koop. His father is an executive of the National Surety Corporation of New York City.

The family moved to Babylon when Charles Thomas Koop was still in his infancy. He began school there, but later was graduated from the Islip High School. He took his prelegal training and his legal studies at Duke University in North Carolina, re- ceiving his degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from that institution. At the university he became a member of its famous fraternity, the Tombs,

On completing his education, he returned to Long Island and, on being admitted to the bar, established himself in practice in Patchogue, with offices at 55 West Main Street. He is a member of the Suffolk County and New York State bar associations, of the Patchogue Kiwanis Club and of the Episcopal Church of Islip. He makes his home in Islip.

DOUGLAS E. BROWN-Community service is a prime ideal and objective of Kiwanis International, an organization in which Douglas E. Brown of Pat- chogue has achieved considerable leadership. And, in pursuit of this ideal, Mr. Brown has given many years of his life. He has given community service through the practice of his profession, the law, and through activity in numerous organizations and as an inde- pendent citizen.

Mr. Brown was born in Brooklyn on July 21, 1903, the son of Orlando W. and Laura Floyd Brown. He received his early education in the public schools of Rockville Centre and Malverne, and was graduated from the Jamaica High School. In 1927 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Columbia Uni- versity and attended Columbia University Law School two years. In 1929 he received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the New York Law School.

Admitted to the New York State bar on December 16, 1929, Mr. Brown practiced in New York City, where he remained until 1931. He then returned to Patchogue where for two years he was associated with Ralph J. Hawkins. Since 1933, he has practiced alone.

When the Kiwanis Club of Patchogue was char- tered, Mr. Brown became its first president. In 1940, he was elected lieutenant governor of the New York District of Kiwanis International to represent the Nas- sau and Suffolk County District, an extensive consti- tuency. Through his work in this office he became well known throughout Long Island and far beyond.

Mr. Brown is also a member of the Nassau Coun- ty, New York State, and American Bar Associations, of the Patchogue Lodge No. 1323, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Suffolk County Repub- lican Club and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He was secretary and a governor of the Pattersquash Gunners' Association of the Town of Brookhaven for ten years.

Mr. Brown married Gladys Canner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Canner, in New York City on August 22, 1934. His favorite sports are boating and fishing.

MILES W. REHOR-An attorney with a rapidly growing reputation, Miles W. Rehor is the law part- ner of Lindsay R. Henry, district attorney of Suffolk County and William W. Lipp, maintaining offices in Bay Shore under firm name of Henry, Lipp & Rehor. In World War II, Mr. Rehor was naval aide to Gen- eral George S. Patton in the European Theater of Op- erations.

Mr. Rehor was born in New York City on May 13, 1916, the son of William and Bertha (Mizerovsky) Rehor, the former the operator of a meat and provi- sion business in the metropolis. Mr. Rehor, a gradu- ate of the Horace Mann School for Boys, took his prelegal as well as legal work at Columbia University. In 1936 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts and in 1939 that of Bachelor of Laws from the uni- versity. He was admitted to the bar of New York State in 1939 and for the next two years was in prac- tice in New York City. In October, 1941, Mr. Rehor enlisted in the United States Navy. The following June, he was commissioned an ensign. When he was discharged in June, 1946, he was holding the rank of lieutenant. In most of the intervening time, he was on the staff of General Patton, in Naval Intelli- gence.

Immediately upon his discharge from the navy, Mr. Rehor came to Suffolk County and entered his pre- sent association with District Attorney Henry. Their firm is called Henry, Lipp and Rehor. Mr. Rehor is a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Republican Club and the Timber Point Club of Suffolk County.

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Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 57

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor Publication date: 1949 Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 922

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922