I wrote this story in 2007, but you can see some braces made by Marion Dunn for yourself. On Saturday, Jan 31, 2009 from 10 AM - 2 PM, Dunn's tools and several types of orthotics he made while employed at the Polio Foundation will be on display at Roosevelt's Little White House, 401 Little White House Road, Warm Springs, GA.
By Theresa Shadrix
The Anniston Star(AL)
Originally published: February 17, 2007
Marion Dunn was only 17 when he met President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
A certified prosthetic and orthopedic technician, Dunn made the braces that FDR wore on his polio-stricken legs. Dunn was - and still is - a frequent visitor to the Little White House, Roosevelt's favorite retreat for relaxation and polio treatment in Warm Springs, Ga., located about 60 miles southwest of Atlanta.
"He joked and played around with employees," Dunn recalls. "There was one time FDR dunked a boy in the water and then roared back with a big belly laugh. He had a great laugh."
Dunn, who often brings homemade pies to the staff at the Little White House museum, says Warm Springs gave Roosevelt a chance to be himself outside the scrutiny of politics, the public and the press.
Roosevelt was infected with the polio virus in 1921 (although a study in 2003 said he may have had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a different neurological disease). He was paralyzed from the waist down and doctors said he would never walk again. (The polio vaccine would not come around until 1955.)
His relationship with Warm Springs began when he visited the area in 1924. At the suggestion of close friend and Georgia native George Foster Peabody, Roosevelt - at the time he had left politics to practice law in New York - traveled to Warm Springs because Peabody believed its warm swimming pools might help him. When in the pools, filled with natural mineral water from Pine Mountain springs that stayed at a constant 88 degrees, patients felt recharged and some, like Roosevelt, were able to freely walk about in the swimming pools.
But Warm Springs was not designed as a treatment center. From the 1890s until the 1920s, it was a place for the wealthy to relax. The Meriwether Inn, located on the property, was capable of housing 300 guests and keeping them entertained with a bowling alley, tennis court, trap shooting and swimming pools, among other amenities.
Roosevelt invested $195,000 of his personal fortune to buy 12,000 acres in Warm Springs and to rebuild the resort and make it a place that offered polio treatment. The land deal included the Meriwether Inn, cottages, swimming pools and the land on which he built the Little White House.
With Peabody and others, Roosevelt formed the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation (now the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation), a center for treatment of polio. He consulted physicians and scientists on rehabilitation and worked with architects on the design of a new pool complex, which featured indoor and exercise pools.
Since there was no cure for polio at the time and patients were quarantined, Warm Springs and Roosevelt's foundation offered polio patients what they could not get in modern medicine - relief, acceptance and seclusion.
But Roosevelt's hope of restoring Warm Springs to a resort failed as the president learned firsthand the fear felt by people in regard to polio. The misunderstanding and lack of knowledge about polio kept visitors away because they believed swimming in the public pools would infect them with polio.
But it didn't prevent Roosevelt from visiting it often, and it was there that he died.
The last image
One of the most treasured pieces at the museum is the unfinished portrait of Roosevelt. It was on April 12, 1945, during a sitting for the painting that Roosevelt collapsed in the tiny living room at the Little White House. He was carried to his bedroom and pronounced dead at 3:35 p.m. His body was then taken to Washington, D.C. for a state funeral and Roosevelt was buried at Hyde Park, N.Y.
Greg Morrow says the room that holds the original portrait was designed by him and Burke. The room is equipped with lighting to preserve the painting for future generations.
It was at Warm Springs that Roosevelt found a purpose in life far beyond politics. His reputation before 1921 was that of a stoic, somewhat aloof aristocrat, but some would say that the small Georgia town warmed his personality as well. In his car, specially equipped with hand controls, Roosevelt traveled the country roads around Warm Springs and stopped to picnic or talk to people along the way, Dunn says.
"Roosevelt's experience in Georgia influenced him philosophically and politically," Burke says. "I hope everyone walks away with something positive."
"His programs and the things he did for rural people had me in awe of working at a presidential site," Morrow says. "They say when he came down here, he didn't realize how people in rural areas lived and it opened his eyes and it was what inspired him to begin all the social programs. Those programs started in Warm Springs."
Warm Springs actors bring history to life
This was the sidebar to a story I wrote about Roosevelt's Little White House in Warm Springs, GA in 2007.
By Theresa Shadrix
Anniston Star, The (AL)
Published: February 17, 2007
As the wind blows through the trees, Tom Wentland and Nancy Simko relax on the porch. Wentland adjusts his wheelchair while Simko focuses on the knitting project in her lap. Then Wentland spots an approaching visitor.
"Hi there, young man, and what is your name?" he asks. Shy and doubtful, the young boy is not sure if what he is seeing is real. He looks up to his mother for assurance and walks toward Wentland.
"So, do you have any questions for the president?" Wentland asks in a deep voice.
"Uh, no, sir." the boy replies, as he quickly makes his way to the door that leads back into the house.
Wentland is used to such perplexed responses from young visitors. After all, it is not every day one meets the 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), especially since he died in 1944.
History comes to life on special occasions in Warm Springs, Ga., at the Little White House, getaway home of the former president. The porch is the stage for Wentland as he portrays FDR and for Simko as first lady Eleanor.
For Wentland, it has been a 16-year engagement and along the way he has gathered a lot of information about the only president to be elected four times. It's a commitment that he takes very seriously and one he says leaves him humble at the end of the day.
"It is an incredible honor to be able to step into his skin and make him seem alive, like to make people understand what that time was like, what our country was going through with the Depression," says Wentland.
"Some days you feel like cardboard cutouts," says Wentland. "Then there are some days here when ... well, they are humbling."
Wentland finds it difficult to finish his sentence but Simko looks up from her knitting.
"People thank him. We have had World War II veterans thank us," she says. "These moments are precious."
History to life
Wentland and Simko appear as FDR and Eleanor on special dates at the Little White House:
· Jan. 30 - FDR's birthday.
· March 17 - FDR and Eleanor's wedding anniversary.
· Oct. 11 - Eleanor's birthday.
Copyright, 2007, The Anniston Star, Consolidated Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
By Theresa Shadrix
Anniston Star, The (AL)
Published: February 17, 2007
As the wind blows through the trees, Tom Wentland and Nancy Simko relax on the porch. Wentland adjusts his wheelchair while Simko focuses on the knitting project in her lap. Then Wentland spots an approaching visitor.
"Hi there, young man, and what is your name?" he asks. Shy and doubtful, the young boy is not sure if what he is seeing is real. He looks up to his mother for assurance and walks toward Wentland.
"So, do you have any questions for the president?" Wentland asks in a deep voice.
"Uh, no, sir." the boy replies, as he quickly makes his way to the door that leads back into the house.
Wentland is used to such perplexed responses from young visitors. After all, it is not every day one meets the 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), especially since he died in 1944.
History comes to life on special occasions in Warm Springs, Ga., at the Little White House, getaway home of the former president. The porch is the stage for Wentland as he portrays FDR and for Simko as first lady Eleanor.
For Wentland, it has been a 16-year engagement and along the way he has gathered a lot of information about the only president to be elected four times. It's a commitment that he takes very seriously and one he says leaves him humble at the end of the day.
"It is an incredible honor to be able to step into his skin and make him seem alive, like to make people understand what that time was like, what our country was going through with the Depression," says Wentland.
"Some days you feel like cardboard cutouts," says Wentland. "Then there are some days here when ... well, they are humbling."
Wentland finds it difficult to finish his sentence but Simko looks up from her knitting.
"People thank him. We have had World War II veterans thank us," she says. "These moments are precious."
History to life
Wentland and Simko appear as FDR and Eleanor on special dates at the Little White House:
· Jan. 30 - FDR's birthday.
· March 17 - FDR and Eleanor's wedding anniversary.
· Oct. 11 - Eleanor's birthday.
Copyright, 2007, The Anniston Star, Consolidated Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
Sacred Encounters: from Rome to Jerusalem
If you
are looking for a great book to read, I recommend Sacred Encounters: from
Rome to Jerusalem by Tamara Park.
"Tamara
Park signifies all that is good about the Christian pilgrimage. Her honesty and
openness in Sacred Encounters from Rome to Jerusalem allow for a true spiritual
journey in finding God. She is a contemporary pilgrim with a fresh journey to
the living, breathing Yahweh."
Theresa
Shadrix
Chris Tomlin: 'All about love'
Chris Tomlin shares about worship, church plantThe Alabama Baptist
Thursday, November 13, 2008
By Theresa Shadrix
From the moment Chris Tomlin received a guitar from his dad when he was around 11 or 12, he has used music to worship and praise God.
He wrote his first song, "Praise the Lord," when he was 14 but said he can't recall it and confessed his first songs were "not any good."
Now 36, the Texas native has written some of the most sung contemporary worship songs in church today, such as "Indescribable," "How Great Is Our God" and "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)."
Looking back on his career, he can see the way God orchestrated his music. "I really didn't go knocking on people's doors. God really opened the doors. He did it the whole way through."
Awarded male vocalist of the year at the Gospel Music Awards in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and artist of the year in 2007 and 2008, Tomlin is sometimes overwhelmed to see people in authentic worship with songs he has written.
In a recent telephone interview from his apartment in Atlanta, he expressed humility for all the attention and laughs off comparisons to Psalmist David.
"I spend most of my time ripping [David] off," Tomlin joked. "I don't consider myself [a modern-day David], but it is my heart to write. I do feel a sort of mandate from God to help people express."
Tomlin believes people are created to worship God, and he has always felt a calling to lead Christians in worship. He credits his parents with helping him fulfill that calling.
When he wanted to cut a demo just out of high school, his father, who taught him how to play the guitar, gave him the money.
"He really believed in me," he said.
But although his father and mother believed in his gift of music, they also wanted him to go to college. Tomlin respected their wishes and finished with a degree in psychology from Texas A& University in College Station.
"I remember getting the 'dad talk' about getting a real job. That wasn't me," he said. "I did finish my degree but by the time I was in college, [God] was already opening the door."
It was during his college years that Tomlin met Louie Giglio, Passion founder, and started a union with the first Passion concert in 1997 that is still thriving today.
Now just off the first Passion world tour, Tomlin, Giglio and Matt Redman, author of other widely sung worship songs and Passion regular, are planning to plant a new church in Atlanta.
"This is something we have been looking toward for five years," Tomlin explained.
Although he sold his house in Texas and is "settling in" as a new Atlantan, Tomlin is excited about what will happen with the new church and being surrounded by people he loves.
To Tomlin, love is not just about friendships and partnerships in ministry it is also the focus of his seventh album, "Hello Love," which was the highest Christian album to debut on iTunes and peaked at No. 9 at Billboards Top 200 after its release in September.
"The heart of worship is a love relationship with God. Part of our relationship with God is how we love each other," he said.
One way to do that is through Passion's initiative, www.onemillioncan.com.
So far $266,169.25 has been given for work such as providing clean water in Africa, ministering to sex slaves in India and offering life-altering surgeries for children.
Love to Tomlin is a reflection of the heart and he said he encourages Christians to seek out ways to love others.
"When you get down to the nitty gritty and the heart of relationships in life, it is all about love."
For more information about Tomlin, visit www.christomlin.com. To gather more information about Passion, visit www.268generation.com.
Chris Lockwood of 33 Miles
Mobile native honors God through musicBy Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
October 23, 2008
Chris Lockwood never planned to play guitar in a contemporary Christian band, but the Mobile native is now topping the Billboard charts as a member of 33Miles.
Along with Lockwood, 33Miles consists of Jason Barton on lead vocals and Collin Stoddard on keyboard. The band, whose name represents the time Christ spent on earth in miles, gained instant attention, and the group was a Gospel Music Association Dove Award nominee for New Artist of the Year after their 2007 debut album, “33Miles.”
While the award went to Brandon Heath, 33Miles would not soon be forgotten.
Just last month, they released their second album, “One Life,” which has already peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart.
While the success seems to have come overnight for 33Miles, Lockwood said God has been preparing him in ministry for many years.
His parents divorced when he was 8, and although he was baptized around the same time, he can’t say he really understood what he was doing. When friends invited him to a bowling event with their youth group, he said the Lord used the people to “knock on his door.”
At 16 years old, he felt a call to the ministry.
“The Lord got my attention,” he said. “It’s that whole mentality of I didn’t really choose the Lord. He chose me.”
Lockwood’s love for music started when his father gave him a guitar for his ninth birthday. Lockwood soaked up everything he could learn about the guitar, whether playing alone in his room or watching his uncle play.
“I spent hours in my room, and my dad always yelled, ‘Get out and do something!’” he recalled.
After graduating from Baker High School in Mobile, Lockwood attended the University of Mobile in pursuit of a music degree. He said his college experience gave him an appreciation for reading music and learning all types of music from classical to jazz.
After four years of college, Lockwood moved to Cincinnati and toured with Mobile-based TRUTH for a year and a half.
When fellow TRUTH member Jason Breland moved back home to Mobile, he asked Lockwood to join him as a worship associate at First Baptist Church, North Mobile, in Saraland. Lockwood led the music part time for about a year and with his wife, Joy, had plans to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston.
A phone call from former TRUTH and 4HIM member Mark Harris, however, changed everything.
“Jason (Barton) was filling in for Andy Chrisman with 4HIM, and Mark called out of the blue one day and said [Jason] was trying to start a group,” Lockwood said.
He had given up the dream of playing in a band when he was 16. Playing in a band was the furthest thing from his mind.
“When you have a family and have bills to pay, you don’t pursue dreams,” Lockwood explained.
Out of respect for Harris, Lockwood agreed to meet Barton and his management team at a sound check in Nashville and was immediately impressed. So Lockwood and Barton, along with Stoddard, cut a demo and waited.
Six months later, INO Records called.
“It happened really fast. Three guys who didn’t know each other, and God was the mastermind behind it all,” Lockwood said.
At 30 years old, Lockwood said he hopes to make the most of God’s master plan for his life not only as a husband and father to his 9-month-old daughter but also as a worship leader.
“We, 33Miles, paint a picture of Christ’s life in miles, and we turn it around as a challenge to ourselves and others,” he said.
Lockwood said the group sees the ministry as encouragement to believers and wants to promote the gospel.
“We can’t change everybody but ministry is what sticks. Christ is what sticks.”
Copyright The Alabama Baptist, 2008.
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