September 28, 2010

Yesterday we picked up Sonny and Freda in our motor home and drove to my Brother Bob’s house. It had been more than forty years since Sonny had been in the Westville area. In the mid-60s, Sonny worked at the Dr. Norman Beatty Memorial Mental Hospital in lieu of military service. He worked there for two years and met many people from the surrounding area farms. Some of these farms he often worked at milking cows, baling hay and performing other farm duties.

Last evening, Bob invited an old friend over so Sonny and Freda could reminisce about things that happened in the past. We had a good time listening and learning from everyone.

Today, we drove around the old hospital area. When the hospital was built in 1945 it consisted of 50 main buildings that housed 1750 patients in the civil section and around 500 in the maximum security area. In 1979 the hospital was converted into the Indiana State Correctional Facility with an average daily population of around 2700 prisoners. Of course we couldn’t get very close but Sonny still was able to recognize some of the buildings that he worked in. He also enlightened us with stories of some of the patients that once lived there.

After seeing the prison, we drove to various farms where Bob and Jan had made arrangements to visit with some of the people Sonny and Freda wanted to see.

We had a great two days and I know that Sonny and Freda had a wonderful time also.