The three stories that I chose from the CDC Storybook were “Jeanne Shinnick,” in the “I Survived” category; “Dr. Frank Biberstein,” in the “Plantings” category; and “Elmer ‘Bud’ Pancake,” in the “Finding a Cure” category.
The first story, which focused on Jeanne Shinnick from Penssylvania, was written by her son, Drew Shinnick. After surviving the 1918 pandemic, Jeanne Shinnick forever had a fear of the natural world. Her son describes the source of her prolonged fear:
“She was 7 or 8 years old and sick at home … Mom described standing on the porch and staring at the neighbors across the street. They were dead. Their bodies were lying in the front yard. Then she saw bodies in front of other houses and even in the street. Even the pets were dead. It was the horrific 1918 pandemic”
Paul Shinnick, “Jeane Shinnick”
Jeanne Shinnick saw the natural world as threatening due to the horrific and bizarre experiences as a young, impressionable child. Although she survived, she witnessed many people who had not. This remained impactful to the day that she died, which was represented by her fear of the pond at which she sat near. She always told her son that it was slowly becoming lower, even though her sons did not believe that it was.
The second story focuses on Dr. Frank Biberstein and is written by his grandson, Paul Kendall. Biberstein was a freshman in college, freshly graduated out of high school when the 1918 pandemic hit. He attended St. Joseph’s College/Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Biberstein was given the daunting task of walking the streets and collecting the dead alongside a horse-drawn cart,
“My grandfather was not a big man, so I remember him telling me how hard it was for him to carry the bodies out. He said there was no one else who would or could collect the dead, so the powers–that–be decided that they would get the young men studying to be religious to do the work”
Paul Kendall, “Dr. Frank Biberstein”
His grandson described the seriousness which fell upon his grandfather’s face whenever he told his stories of the 1918 pandemic. This reminds me of the effects that this pandemic had on Jeanne Shinnick in the story I described before. Their experiences were similar, with Shinnick witnessing the horror of dead bodies on the streets, and Biberstein being one of the people who was tasked with collecting them.
The third story is about a man called Elmer “Bud” Pancake, and is told by his daughter, Margarita Pancake. It is told by Elmer’s son. Elmer “Bud” Pancake grew up in Wyoming, and there was a doctor during the pandemic that boasted that he’d never lost a patient. The cure? “He would pour whiskey into a patient to get them to cough up the phlegm” (Pancake). This reminded me of how there was a brief period where I heard stories of doctors in New York using alcohol to help treat patients who were diagnosed with COVID.
