Counting
A Personal Account of Manteno State Hospital
by "Anonymous"

I worked at Manteno State Hospital ...started Jan.18th 1957. Came to Manteno on a Greyhound bus, got off the bus into 10 inches of snow and was ready to go back home where there were no jobs for a recent high school graduate, so had to stay.

Being single, they boarded me at the "Mule Barn" which was a single male employee dorm called Brandon 1. I was assigned to the nursing department. Went to a training school for several weeks. (Still got my grade and evaluation paper.) Was assigned to many different wards to work. I worked what they called the "Right Shift". I was assigned Tuesday and Wednesday as my day off the first week, then I got Wed. & Thurs. off the next week, then Thurs. & Fri. then we started to get what they called our "long" weekends. We got Fri., Sat., Sunday off then the next week we got Sat., Sun., & Monday. This swinging shift helped keep up morale plus kept them in nursing employees to cover shifts.

I married the girl who worked for the assistant chief nurse in the nursing administration office. The girl I married worked directly for Mrs. Leotta Dowell assistant Chief nurse and Mrs. Loraine Bagby both RNs. You found out real quick to NOT call the Chief nurse (Bagbies). Once we got married, I was put on the "day" shift and had to work any ward on campus as relief.

I worked every ward except the T.B. units, as I was too young at 18. I worked Electric Shock, Insulin Shock, Hydrotherapy, Research ward, and alcoholic units. (Late October the Alcohol Units filled fast as it got pretty cold on the streets in Chicago during winter.) I remember taking patients to see movies at the theatre, dances at the hall, and to the barbershop. On some wards the Barbers came with a patient barber who cut hair. They saved the little paper wipes they cleaned their razors on to count.

It seems to me we counted all the time. We counted patients out the doors, in the doors, plus four times or so a shift, so as not to loose anyone as we had about 160 people to keep track of on each ward. We dispensed medications four or more times a day...passed out a lot of Thorazine...I remember one patient we gave 4 or 5, 100mg of Thorazine, 4 to 6 times a day (and this just kept him a little bit "quiet"). The patients normally started some type of loud yelling, screaming, pacing, jumping, dancing along with other exaggerated movements from the time they woke till they went to sleep. It would have been nice if they all had fallen asleep at the same time.

I worked a lot with the older patients on the Meyer wards. Sometimes, at dark, this one old gentleman would beg me to let him go home. I would ask why? He would say he had to get home to milk his cow and he would tell me her name, which I can't remember today, said "she'll get sick".

I remember hating to work on the Epileptic wards when it was full moon time as with about 160 patients on the ward one could only guess how many would have seizures that shift, I would say the increase was some 28 to 30 percent over normal, and they were medicated several times a day with Phenobarbitals and Sodium Nembutal.

I worked the acute hospital several times also. The Illinois licensed Doctors usually worked there. Out on the Wards you had " Doctors " who, in their home country may of had a different profession. I recall some of these doctors learning to drive as well as read and write English.

I got a chance to go to work at the General Stores, which was great. I became a Storekeeper, passing all the way up to Storekeeper 3 but was never more than that as there were many, much older people in those positions.

When I started every thing was do-by-hand with patient labor. We had at least 15 to 20 workers. They unloaded goods onto carts pulled by hand inside then stacked in the warehouse. When the daily orders came in from say Dietary, they would load carts again, pull them to the kitchen and unload them. It took 56 cases of 4, "No. 10" size cans for a meal (28 Dozen).

We had a pretty sharp alcoholic patient who worked for us who was a mathematician and he figured out how to cut down on patient help, utilize space, and save labor. Patient, Walter H. G., drew up plans for wood pallets of a certain size (30x30). Drew floor plans then took all this data to the Supply and Control officer Clarence "Sport" Welch, who in turn, brought in Comptroller Harold Piepinbrink (Harold went on to become Superintendent later), and Superintendent Richard Graff, who sat down with this patient and decided it had much merit. So they bought wood pallets, an electric forklift, widened a couple doors and we started what was to become expanding efficiency with less and less patient labor. We even got where we could palletize potatoes.

We received thousands of cans of peaches from Anna State Hospital, Kraut in new garbage cans from Joliet prison farms plus bar soaps, brushes, brooms, dust pans and many other goods made by the prisoners there. We received meat, lard, and a small amount of produce from our own farms. The butchering was done in Peotone Ill., at Kruger lockers. The lard was rendered there also. I always enjoyed when the Federal Government surplus foods arrived. Mainly the butter, as I would have to take samples from the front, center and back of the semi load and "taste test" the butter on a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery, unsliced. I'd just rip it apart, apply a lot of butter and taste it for salt, or putridity. I never found a bad load. I finally went on to other things late 1960`s, went to school and became a paint chemist. My wife stayed there till they closed it down, transferred to Tinley Park State, then after so many years transferred to Department of Corrections where she retired in 2002 after some 50 odd years of state service.

Quine 1, which faced east was called "a semi-tidy combative" ward, which was for those who would stay at Manteno forever (the 'chronics', the 'back ward patients', the incurables and the intractable.). They wore what was called "strong clothes", (shapeless garments made of reinforced cotton that could not be torn). These were made of a heavier cotton material that was a couple sizes too large so that they always had to have one hand busy holding up their pants, (no belts allowed), so they could be handled when they became combative which was very common.

On this ward, one Sunday, all of a sudden, the Chief of Security, Mr. Joe McGinnis, Assistant Chief Nurse, Mrs. Leotta Dowell, my supervisor, a nice dressed lady, a couple case workers, and an attorney came on theward asking for a specific patient. I pointed him out to them. He was a very quiet, clean, never aggressive and never talked. (I thought he couldn't.) They had me bring him up to the desk where the Assistant Chief Nurse asked him his name, which he gave her. The well dressed lady was sort of crying, there were tears running down her cheeks, this was scaring me, as I was still young. The gentleman who came with her asked the patient his name and asked if he knew of a certain address in Chicago. He said he did and they asked him a lot of questions about certain landmarks around that address. I had never been to Chicago so it meant nothing to me. The caseworker told the patient, "This is your daughter, she has come to take you home". The paper work was all ready and signed by Dr. R.J. Graff, so they brought in some clothes, which we put on him, and away they went. My supervisor stayed to explain what happened as she had been in a meeting held just prior to them coming to the ward. Seems like, that on Friday nights, workers from the many jobs in the city used to have a good time (this was in the late 40`s or early 50`s). They usually got on a good drunk. The Chicago police would pick up all the drunks they could, and take them to the lockup, the next day these "drunks" were sorted out as to drunk or crazy by the desk people. Drunks went to a place called the "Bridwell" farm. Those who were supposedly crazy went to Manteno or Cook County. This poor guy was put on the Manteno bus not the Bridwell bus and had ended up, locked away at Manteno. I guess he was so traumatized he fit in with the others. This was late Fall of 1958 as best as I remember and I was told he had been there for years. This daughter had been hunting for him for years along with her mother and neighbors, who knew his habits and was sure he had gotten drunk and had gone to Bridwell. They could not find him there, so figured he had been killed or something. Over the years the wife had given up hope...but the daughter remained determined. So thru her investigative work, using the Salvation Army, and various Chicago relief agencies, it was figured out what may have happened. They found him in Manteno State Hospital.

Now Quine 2 was a combative, epileptic ward with about 160 patients, who received lots and lots of medication for their seizures. Dilantin, Phenobarbitals. Reserpin, etc. We had to count pills and capsules, several times a shift. Plus, at the change of shifts, we had to do it together. We got our pills and caps in gallon jugs sealed with a red wax. During full moon, your job really got rough as the seizures came fast and plentiful. On this ward, as well as others, the patients had darn good appetites. They got some very good meals but only got a spoon to eat with. It was hard to spread butter onto fresh "homemade" type bread with a spoon, but they did it. After each meal they passed their spoons to the end of their tables where one person would hold them until an "Attendant" counted them and put them in a bucket. This was for security. Sometimes they would insert a spoon into their rectum to attempt to hide it. When a spoon came up missing everyone stayed sitting, an "Attendant " would say in a loud voice " O.K. who has the spoon!" and most likely, they would pass in up the table to you. If not, they would all be searched one at a time on the way down the hall back to the ward.

I woke this morning to the cold and this reminded me of the early years I worked at Manteno. We had to get up early, get shaved and showered. (One common area, like the military. No modesty there!) Then we had to walk in the freezing cold to the Main cafeteria, which seemed a couple miles but was only a quarter mile. The one good thing was that the tunnels ran under the sidewalks over a lot of the institution and we had clearwalking. The meals, they were good, but...on one day you would have two eggs and toast. The next day would be bacon and toast and maybe the next day cereal and toast. Then they would do chip beef on toast then French toast. Never ever would you have, say eggs, bacon, toast and cereal on the same breakfast menu. The patients sometimes got a better meal than the "on grounds" employees. After breakfast we would go to our assigned ward where we would serve breakfast. Or if you got to a ward that was served first then there was two sides to feed. (Food was delivered by "food trucks" from the main kitchen and of course got to some wards sooner than others.) Like the 1 side may go first today and tomorrow the 2 side would go first, this way there was some "taking turns" done. The patients lined up, went thru the line, got their food on a metal tray (special rolled edge so NO SHARPS) with a spoon for utensils, and a slice of bread with a large pad of "government butter". (The government butter was used a lot to cook with.) When they were thru eating, (and the rule was 30 minutes from the time the last person sits), they passed their spoons to the end of the table for the "Attendant" to count. Then they passed the trays. If every thing went well, they were thru in 10-15 minutes and ready to go back to their ward.

Change of shift occurred either prior or during, and sometimes after morning meal. We did count in and out of the cafeteria area, plus recount on ward using the patient checklist, making a mark by their name. This had better come out correct or someone would be in trouble. We then had to exchange keys with the outgoing shift. We had to count the keys on each ring and see if they matched what was supposed to be on the key ring. (One-day suspension for each key lost.)

I can remember each key: Male ward door key (fit any male ward); the GE 75 key for electrical stuff, (i.e. Fire alarm, fire extinguishers); medicine room door; medicine cabinet door; and shower control. The doctors made rounds and checked the general population as they walked thru, checking to see if you had anyone with medical problems. Usually, they stayed VERY briefly, as most of the doctors were scared of the patients. The nursing supervisor would check-in and they would go around and actually look at some of the patients. I think some of the patients would respond to their nurse uniform, and actually nurses would talk to them. Patient ward workers mopped the floors. To this day I still smell Pine-Sol solution we had to put into the mop water along with an Iodine solution. By the way, when I went to work at the General store I got to see that Pine-Sol in 55 gallon drums. We did housekeeping, and if someone had to go to get a shot, dentist, or clothes, we got most of that done prior to lunch. I forgot€ we did give out the Morning medications just after breakfast on most units, sometimes before, depended on the trucks. I think fresh bread every day kept morale up.

Sometime during the month the Barbers came on the wards to shave the men and brought along a patient Barber to cut hair. The licensed barbers only cut hair in the shop when the "UP" patients would be walked to the barbershop for their shaves. Sometimes the barber would help the patient barber, but they only shaved. They used Double (Dubl) Duck razors from Germany and these were furnished by the state. When a razor became "shot" the Master Barber, Mr. Gene Ivy, would bring them to the general store with the proper requisition and exchange them for new. The old razors were taken and buried by the Master gardener under trees that were being planted or in the bottom of a deep posthole in the front of the property (between the Veterans home and Bernard Road). He did this under the eye of a store person. I did it a couple times myself.

My wife seems to remember having some "things" her mom was given by the state. I have a ward spoon that says "Illinois" on it.

The "volunteer" patients, who lived on the four-story cottages, ate at the south end of the main dining room and had metal bowls. Regular employees ate in the center. Supervisory, and "big shots" ate in the north end of the main dining room. I remember one thing, the entry screens were electrified to kill flies and a human could get a good charge out of them too, should you not push on the wooden slats covering the charged wires, enough of that for now.

I remember the metal pans and ashtrays. The patients had "roll your own" tobacco and papers, which came from the old Menard Prison. They threw their butts on the floor or ate them as they could smoke them down to bare nothing. This is why the major majority of them had highly stained and burned fingers and thumb. Not all wards could have metal pans, as they fought other patients or "Attendants" with them. Only the "volunteer" wards and those in Singer Building, where the entering alcoholics were temporarily housed, could have them. For a few days, the alcoholics were given Paraldehyde for their drinking problem. (Not formaldehyde, as was used in the basement of Bowen Hospital Building where the Morgue was located.) I can remember metal trays on the south end of the main dining room and on Meyer 1 ward, as these patients were non-combative, clean, "up" patients. I guess today they call them ambulatory. I don't recall metal trays on Jackson either, as they were sort of rough, but like Meyer, older, clean and "up".

The noon meals came on the "food trucks" always in milk cans. I've never seen so many milk cans as there used to be out there. (A side note: They steam-cleaned them, tipped them over (on outside racks in summer, inside in winter) behind the "Main Kitchen" What flies?) With the noon lunch more bread, (left over from breakfast baking), more lines, more counting of patients, spoons, trays, medications, (some were given before lunch, but most, after), then, for the patient, more sitting. (They did have T.V. when I started...something new for the older patients who had been there prior to T.V.) I would say they sat (if not ranting and raving, pacing, making those jerks with their heads, bodies and arms) for some 95 - 98% of their day.

Thank goodness for the O.R.T. (Occupational and Recreational Therapy) group out of Forbes center. They would come to the wards on selected days and either take patients back to Forbes to play games or to Hinton hall to play their versions of Basketball, throw the ball, general eye, motion, attention and mild exercise control therapy. A Mrs. Lampley, (she should be about 57-60 years old now), was one of the certified therapists. I do remember taking some patients off of Quine 2, strong clothes and all to Hinton a few times where the therapists played music of various kinds. I did see many of these patients who were completely "out of it" (in introverted regression) actually dance. We had a set of twin brothers on Quine who were real-life ballet dancers in Chicago back in the early 40`s.

Manteno State Hospital was segregated. Men were on north side and women on south side, (be you patient or employee), except for Singer Building, which was segregated with men on the east, women on the west. On the other wards, such as Quine, Meyer, etc., each side was a different ward. Usually the east side of each building was 1 and the west side was 2, except for Trudeau and Freud which were different because of configuration.

Trudeau was the T.B. unit. We do not remember any particular building that was "African American" and my wife was there from 1955 'til it closed when they came over in the afternoon of the last day, asked them to leave the building and they "tipped" the locks.

I personally think some stories you will hear are "stories" made up or passed on to "excite the listener." I would say 90% of the employees who worked there were "Hillbillies" from southern Illinois and I know they were not brutal and cruel as some of the stories I have even been told, (the speaker not knowing I had worked there).

I know one thing, when Dr. Graff, Loraine Bagby, Leotta Dowell were there and in charge and you even thought of abusing a patient, you better give your soul to God because when one of them if not all three got thru with you ...Wow! You were toast! (All three, for just minor things, have chewed me out.)

The keys for everything were segregated north from south. When I was there, if you were a man, you didn't want to get caught on the south side as you would be chastised by the Chief Nurse.

The four-story cottages were by the main kitchen and mechanical building and housed the "voluntary" patients and it would have sounded "bad" for their units to be called wards. They ate on the south side of the main kitchen and were well supervised but not segregated. We did have babies born there on campus. O.B. was the top, west floor of Bowen hospital.

On the afternoon shifts, on the wards I was on, we sometimes went to Singer Building to the Pharmacy (Tony Ravagani R. Ph.) to pick up our medication basket for the ward. They later moved the pharmacy. Of course, we did the counting-in thing to make sure who went for the medications didn't "borrow" any.

Some afternoons we would take a "worker" patient to the General store, 2nd floor, south side to get fitted for shoes by the clothing Storekeeper, (Mr. August "Gus" Lemenager), or his clerk. Remember, some patients were "home furnished" but most were "state furnished" with clothing. In the collar of the patient's shirt it had his name with the letter H (home) or S (state). All their clothes were marked except like Quine 1. (The un-tidies wore all state furnished strong clothes.) Afternoons were also when they sometimes had transfers, (moving patients from one ward to another. For instance maybe someone on a ward would start having seizures and they would move them to a "seizure" ward). Or if a patient was truly improved they would move them to a more "next to normal" ward. Some would get ground passes. Some would tend handmade flower gardens that they had made themselves and some were BEAUTIFUL and they would be so proud.

The change of shifts came between 2:30pm and 3:00pm with more counting of patients, pills, and keys. Sometimes there would be an audit of the clothing room, each of which had their own patient "Clothes Room Person" who was really pretty sharp and was very proud to be assigned there. On some wards this person came in from another "up" ward and carried a grounds pass. Jobs, by the way, were assigned on entry and sometimes they worked out O.K. Sometimes, not.

I remember, one time, a patient came to me and was all depressed because he had been assigned to the hog farm. I could tell from his demeanor that he was not a violent, aggressive type and told him that he should try it first. He did, and one time later, I ran in to him and he said "I sure am glad you made me stick to the farm job". I found out that the Head farmer and his wife (who grew up on the farms of old with lots of hands and family) really took super care of those assigned to their trust in the way of food, care, teaching some how to "figure", read and better clothing which no one ever said anything about. They would come back on grounds later in the early evenings after "chores" well fed, clean, and with a look of satisfaction. I do wish I could remember the farmers name at that time. Later, a Mr. Nordmeier became head farmer. (About the time they stopped production.)

Back to afternoons. You got to go home at 3:00pm, and as I lived in the "Mule Barn", it was close. Usually I would stop by the day room to see what was on T.V. as we weren't allowed to watch it on the wards. Only the patients could watch T.V. Our desks were so we couldn't see it. It was actually almost above the desks. We got home and changed to "civvies". Then got ready to go to supper either in Kankakee, on the microbus or to the main cafeteria. I loved the dorms. In winter, steady steam heat. It was about 80 all the time, (except in summer, when it was still warm as we had no A.C. then, but great circulation. We had roommates. Mine was a drunk. He was never in the room and if he wasn't on duty he was at a tavern. He was a nice, clean and neat person. He was very gentle, but a drunk. The "Chiefs" would check him out a lot.

Sometimes we got back from "Supper" and visited the on the dorm barbershop. One of the attendants was a licensed barber at home and he would set up shop in his room (just like you see in the old reruns of Sgt. Bilko) everything had a hiding place including the 200 watt bulb in the floor lamp. Most everyone knew what to do should the Housekeeper, security, or one of the "Chiefs " come around. Someone would stall them for a couple minutes. That's all it took to put the room back in order. I remember he was from Rosiclare, IL. We had to hit the bed early, and if the guys going to work at 10:30pm didn't wake you up and the guys coming in at 11:00pm didn't wake you up, you got a good night's sleep so you could go to the main dining room for breakfast guessing what it would be today ...with toast.

I jumped the gun...I forgot to tell you about wards KILBOURNE 1 & 2. These were worker wards where every morning after breakfast the majority of those residents were picked up in trucks or by Supervisory people to do the outside "chores". Some people went on the laundry trucks, some on the food trucks, and some were grounds crew. Grounds crews pushed the lawnmowers, dug the holes, swept the street gutters etc.

One crew went to the powerhouse (before they got the railroad engine) and would spot the coal cars as near to the powerhouse dump pit as possible. Patients would man shovels and direct the coal thru the grating into the pit. The powerhouse had Stationary Firemen (who watched the coal enter the furnaces) and they also had stationary engineers who supervised them. One of the stationary engineers was Ed Altman who also ran the Caterpillar to move cars around with help from patients using wheel push poles. After Mr. Pipenbrink became Superintendent he bought a surplus train engine. Things were a lot better then for every one especially during winter. Sometimes I saw patients manning wheelbarrows but not too much, thanks to Ed.

I worked on Jackson wards a few times. They were "up", tidy, and rarely cantankerous, (several had ground passes), but like most wards, they sat around a lot. Billings was something. This, along with Carroll, was the bedfast patients. They were always on the edge of death. Rigid bodies like little sparrows with gapping mouths. We sometimes put wet gauze on their tongues to try to keep them hydrated and hopefully to keep them alive ¥til the next shift.

You see, if a patient "Expired" (you were not allowed to use the word die ) on your shift you had to prepare the body for the morgue yourself. I got that job a couple times and did not like it. Security would pick up the body and take it to the basement of Bowen, where the morgue was at that time. A local funeral director would handle the "preparations". Some patients went back home for burial, but many were buried at the Manteno State Hospital cemetery. (I think it had a name, but no one ever used it.) It was a half-mile east of Barnard Road. SEVERAL were buried in unmarked graves in the Elmwood Cemetery in Manteno. They are buried along the east driveway where it joins the Catholic cemetery. You can't tell where, but a Mr. Donald Le Gesse, who operated a backhoe and still lives in Manteno, knows exactly where if he would tell you. I did not like to work these wards, which were called infirmaries. This is why I went to the General stores.

I was going to start the topic of the General Store which sit just north of the "NEW" bakery which in turn sit just north of the main kitchen also known as the main cafeteria. When I first started there, everything was done with manual labor.... working patients. The General store received everything that was used in the institution, except that what was considered as "drugs" and mechanical.

Starting on the top floor, north side, we stored State manufactured mattresses both ticked and plastic or rubber covered. We kept about 100 on hand. Next were caskets in wood crates. They cost the state at that time about $36.00 each, and the local undertakers always wondered how they could get hold of some. These came from Batesville or a name very similar. They were very nice for the price. Then we had state toilet tissue which I think was made out of course wood fiber as employees purchased their own. Then we had case after case of pure soap, 144 bars to a case of strong yellow laundry and white bath, all state-made. Then there was cereal...mixed, but lots of corn flakes. You realize everything was purchased on the lowest bid so sometimes things were generic before we knew what generic was. We had a smaller locked room in which were stored the state manufactured tobacco from Menard Prison. (It came in little bags packed 12 dozen per case.) Then there was the coffee for the wards, which was a version of instant. Lots of people liked it, but I sure didn't. Then the tea, which came in large crates weighing a couple hundred pounds. This was bulk and came direct from china thru a vendor. On the south side of the second floor was the clothing section where all state furnished and working patients got their clothes from. (For example, the workers from Kilbourne got their work shoes furnished.) Mr. August Lemanager and his store clerk, whose name I cannot remember today, ran this area. They had any kind of clothes and shoes for men and ladies who were state furnished, and lots and lots of bib overalls. When Mr. Pipenbrink became superintendent, we received several hundred U.S. military caskets, (size large from military surplus) along with the train engine, several 45 cal. leather holsters, and an airplane puller, (which was fixed to pull food "wagons from store to kitchen).

O.R.T. made things for the patients in handy crafts with the leather. Now on the main floor we had bag products like rice, various beans, salt, sugar, flour, all in 100 pound bags, shelves and locked cabinets for matches (patients could NOT carry matches but all smoked so the state furnished each ward with matches) Sharps (i.e. scissors, spoons, straight razors, straps, powders, cases of sanitary pads which were state made at one of the women's prisons. Helena Curtis products...(she donated truck loads of "stuff" that the patients did not need or use) and the "Doctors Store" where we filled grocery orders for the staff who lived on grounds in the doctor cottages, (they received 30 cents per day per person in family of FREE food which was national brand stuff). Some families had 6-8 people as they brought their parents, grand parents with them from overseas. When the "first lady" entertained, we had to sort potatoes to make sure they were the same size, make sure every egg was cleaned and sized extra large. We kept the eggs in a large cooler. They came in 30 dozen-size cartons. Also in the cooler there were various blocks of several different kinds GOOD cheese. We had drums of lard (pig fat) for cooking. Usually they cooked donuts in it at the bakery. We had donuts once a week. Mr. Ed Otto was the baker. We had raisins, cocoanut, cases of prepared meat and chicken. All fresh meat products went directly to kitchen. We had jellies. All kinds of jelly. Some of which I had never seen before coming here. (i.e. Mint and Blueberry) Corn meal, nuts, (for holidays only), starch and cabbage were also in there. I forgot one thing we had to keep locked up€ chewing tobacco plugs. Some patients would eat it , I guess.

Back on the main floor we had a staging area where we prepared the days items for mass delivery to the kitchen. Each clerk would take requisitions from Mr. Pete Willett, the Chief Dietary officer. They, with a group of patients, would gather items up and stage them. This area was also used on Tuesday mornings to receive fresh fruits and vegetables from a vendor. Usually it was Panozzo out of Kankakee. (He had most of the business at all the Northern Illinois Institutions.) We got 15-20 cases of medium yellow bananas, (several hundred pounds). They usually got taste-tested by some of the worker patients. We received fresh lettuce, celery by the crate, mushrooms, mustard and Collard greens, tomatoes, melons (in season) kale, dill, cucumbers, etc. Sometimes we got turnips if the farm didn't grow any. (They raised pigs and corn to feed them.)

There was a government inspector who came on those mornings to inspect every produce item. He was law. If something did not meet state specs, it went back on the truck. Also on this floor was anything for other departments. Anything that came in was sorted and checked in. The clothing department received clothing here for the "Home" furnished patients, regardless of whether the relatives or the state purchased it. From here it went to the "marking room" for stamping the patient's name and "S" or "H". These clothes did not go up stairs to our clothing storage. At one point, the Sewing room, Marking room, and clothing office moved into the General store. About the same time the new X-ray dept was set up next door to the General store. On this floor was located the crated Civil Defense Hospital which was like a M.A.S.H. set up for the Village of Manteno, not the State Hospital. (I guess we were expendable at Manteno.)

Anything heavy was also located on this floor as temporary as we could make it. The oxygen was kept here until we moved it to the dock area, (They were green cylinders like welding oxygen.) They averaged 30 tanks a week from Pratt Supply out of Kankakee. On this floor was all the General store offices consisting of one secretary Beverly Kruge. Her boss, Mr. Clarence "Sport" Welch was Storekeeper; Ms. Liz Meinzer, Store Clerk; Carl "Stinky" McFarland, Clerk; and Joe Dorris, who had only one job. He was responsible for checking-in the fresh fruits, vegetables and the flour for the Bakery. Ed Otto used to sneak us fresh, unsliced bread for taste tests every morning from the bakery and we usually had a block of butter around so we all taste tested (patients and employees). We had receiving clerks Jim Lewis and a few SMART (as in I.Q.) alcoholic patient, lead men who assisted with anywhere from 10-18 "workers" to do manual labor. When we started going to mechanized handling we got rid of worker patients by seniority just like a business. Some of those who were "retired" still hung around all day sitting on the front benches or back dock. One patient who had been there for years got ticked off and signed himself out and went home. We didn't know he was a voluntary patient. Seems like he had been there 25 years or so. We figured he came there to hide from the law, as many did.

We had a nice, high ceiling basement under the General store, plus a root cellar to the north. In the basement we not only had rows and rows of just about any kind of canned, (# 10 can size packed 6 cans per case, took 56 cases per meal), fruit or vegetable one would want. We had lots of green beans and apricots. I hated those things, and I'm sure the patients did too. We stored brand new dish sets that were 25-40 years old when I was there and was never used due to the epidemic. (I wonder where they went.) There were platters of all sizes, bowls of all shapes and sizes along with a standard formal setting of plates, cups and various "State Dinner" type settings. We also stored things used in a kitchen but larger sized, such as colanders, whisks, strainers, spoons, stirring paddles, funnels...etc. we also had cases of fish such as tuna, salmon, mackerel and sardines. Sardines were in a much larger can than you get for home and they were not used much as I recall.

We always had an inventory problem with tuna theft. How they could sneak it out was beyond me. I do remember one of the workers at the power plant stealing chickens and baking them some way on the furnace. Mind you, all the workers from the wards like Kilbourne were big, strong and hungry all the time. In one area of the basement we kept heavy valves and electrical wire for the mechanical store as they had no access for heavy things. Either Mr. Eugene Threldkeld, the Storekeeper, or his clerk Mr. Kenny Norris, would come over to receive or dispense their items.

Now the "root" cellar was an interesting place. The potatoes were stored there for a while before the "NEW" pealing room was built onto the "NEW" kitchen addition (about 1959-60) and peeling became automatic thru a machine in place of some dozen or so FEMALE worker patients who peeled by hand with a knife under the watchful eyes of the supervisor who was responsible for them. I have her name on the tip of my tongue as they say. At the root cellar we received "taters" by railroad car, 400 bags at least. Cost a lot of money too.

There was an old German farmer by the name of Hockstra or something like that from St. Anne Il. This man had sons and needed to keep them busy so he raised "spuds" as he called them. He brought samples to show the chief Dietician who was so impressed he helped him get on the bidder list. Mr. Hockstra also took samples to Jay's in Chicago who too, were impressed. By Jay's buying so many he could save the state some money on their purchases and make a little money himself and keep his boys busy. How he got in Jay's is another story.

We kept any root goods in the cellar along with several thousand cans of Peaches. Seems the State of Illinois purchased a few orchard's whole crop of peaches this one year as a pilot program to see if Anna State Hospital could get into some production program like Joliet did Kraut and hard goods. So they installed a canning factory on the grounds there, purchased all the growers product, transported it to A.S.H. where a combination of Employees, Patients, and folks on welfare peeled, canned and shipped out PEACHES. The would ship loose cans in Bonfield Bros. Trucks and you could feel the heat from a block away as they loaded the trucks right off the end of the canning lines. They were so hot they were loaded with special gloves. They were 4 rows high the length of a semi trailer, packed in tight and secured with new 2 x 4 lumber. When we unloaded them, our people had to wear gloves, place them in old used cartons, slide them down a ramp and stack them in the root cellar. I would not be surprised if they are some still there. It got to the point where everybody, (employees and patients), got where they hated anything made with peaches. The cooks made everything with peaches. (I'd like to see some of the old master Receipt books.)

A lot of people didn't know that the Chief Engineer Mr. Harry Potter lived in the house next to the power plant for a while before he left and then the new man, Mr. Wadell stayed where he was living up on the front of the grounds. Kenneth Waddel, was assistant chief until Mr. Potter left. (Opal Chambers was a stationary fireman who went by the nick name of Potts. Harry Hissong was an engineer whose wife was postmaster in the main Administration Building.) The garage was where they worked on the trucks and cars I think the "NEW" laundry sits awful close to it or they may have even torn it down. The "NEW" laundry used workers off of Kilbourne, and the female equivalent, to process laundry.

The mechanical building had Union electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and painters, who all had a patient helper or two at their beck and call. They also had an older man, by the name of George, who did the little fix-it jobs. They had the best tools for that universe of time.

I remember one time that a state furnished male patient passed away who approached 500 pounds and was so wide in the shoulders that no commercial casket would fit him and he was going to be buried "on grounds", meaning the hospital cemetery. So one of the older journeyman carpenters said, "I can make his casket". The chief ordered up the material that was needed and the old gentleman and his elderly patient assistant (both who had been there for years) made the most beautiful casket I had ever seen. People from town even came out to look at it in production. It took about a week, but they kept the deceased in the morgue until it was done. There was some modest but unique features in it to accommodate the man. The carpenter shop even measured the fellow to make it a custom fit. The day that he was buried it took about 8 patients from the grounds crew to place it on the truck and deliver it to the cemetery. I think, being that the grave was larger than normal; nothing would fit, so they used the backhoe to lower it into the grave. If I ever talk to Don LaGesse again, I will ask him, as the local gravediggers got involved.

The workshops in the building were modern for 1950`s. The tin shop and paint shop where they made all the signs until about 1958 when the "New" green metal signs came out thru the Department of Transportation's research development projects and their system was passed over to Department of Welfare (soon to be Department of Mental Health). The basement of the mechanical building housed the Mechanical store, ran by Storekeeper Gene Threldkeld, assisted by Clerk Kenneth Norris and Secretary Eileen Altman. Eileen's husband worked the powerhouse and drove the Caterpillar, which moved the coal cars and filled dump trucks with coal to pour down the hopper. These three were kept busy filling the daily needs of the union workers. From nails to giant valves to turbines back to files.

This is off color, but one day an older lady from our building went over to help out due to vacation and one of the maintenance men came in and asked her "I need a bastard file". Being a Christian lady, she took offence and told him to leave and not come back till he could clean up his language. It took a lot of explaining by the chief Engineer including showing her manuals before she would accept the name.

The General store was always open, (big wide doors), and we got a lot of patient visitors walking thru. Here are a few who stood out:

Now Charlie "Boop" was the paperboy on grounds as he delivered all the daily and Sunday papers to the employee rooms, cottages and staff house. Charlie was very well liked and got extra privileges due to his assignment. Charlie could have made it on the outside but he couldn't stop "booping"... (Yes, nice loud "BOOPs"!) He did, "BOOP boop boop BOOP" and this scared and upset people on the outside. Employees and patients alike were used to him, as you knew when he was coming and you knew when your paper was delivered. He wrote everyone's name on the top of each paper. Our paper had it written in pencil every Sunday. "Pat girl pat..pat" or something similar, was how he talked.

Then there was this very clean, nice looking, Black gentleman who took on some well-to-do person's identity for the day. He was very gracious as he approached you he might say "Good morning sir I am Dr. R.J. Graff may I help you?" Or he might say, "Good morning sir, I am Mr. Mickey Mantel, are you coming to the game today?" Or again, he might become some employee he liked, saying, "Hello, I am Mr. Henry Vinson can I help you today?" If you actually needed him for something you had to call him by his "assumed name" of the day or he wouldn't answer. It became common that when you met someone who would be coming in contact with him that day, you would tell them that Mike was so-and-so, today. He loved to be Dr. Otto Bettag. Dr. B. was state director of the Department of Mental Health at the time. This patient would just roam the grounds all day reading his paper and greeting people...but the odd thing was, you could ask him questions related to whom he was impersonating and he could give you some pretty relevant information.

I got to meet "The Cisco Kid" who came to visit one afternoon in the park for "Working Patients" as I had to escort some of our store workers. I got popped up side the head one time by a boxer whom I was told was named John Bratton our something like that.

A lot of important people "guested" at Manteno (mostly alcohol related), such as "Lula Belle and Scotty", a pair of country western singers. I had a world-renowned heart surgeon on one ward. I know his name was Dr. Kohen. He had been committed somehow but was still sharp and a polite Jewish gentleman. I liked him. I used to ask him Medical "stuff" and he would draw pictures of interest related to what I would ask.You know I still have to this day some lengths of rope that came from the crates that the new x-ray equipment was shipped in. Where the new x-ray building was rehabbed at one time in the 50`s was a research ward. (I can't remember the name off hand, but was the first building north of the store.) They would bring this one patient over to the store to weigh him. The little old lady attendant had practically raised him from an early childhood. He had been committed very young because he had the mind of a 5 or 6 month fetus and would tear up things , break windows, chairs and such. He did not realize what he was doing, but she could bring him over to weigh and get him to go back with her like a little kid and at this time he was possibly 40 years old. We would all scatter when she brought him over and the person who weighed him would get behind the scale (used to weigh loads of potatoes, etc.) to do the weighing. I would estimate him to weigh 450 to 500 pounds. He stood about 7 feet tall and wore state made shoes.

There were others on that ward, I would say 6 or 7 but no one ever saw them. To go there, you had to have special clearance. I never saw any of the "Chiefs" go in there, just the same attendants day after day and they were old. I was told that there were cats in cages down stairs in a basement and when a flood came that the tables were turned over and the cats escaped into the tunnels. Some had giant heads and small bodies as well as other deformities. I DID NOT see the cats, but did see this one "man" when he was weighed. I know of no other wild stories or things like it. I left state service in an unusual way.

After my wife and I got married, we lived on Nightingale II, which was for married staff. We had a sink in our room but communal bathroom and shower room. Well, she got pregnant so we had to move off grounds and ended up on an estate consisting of several houses and a main farmstead. The owner was a Technical Director for American Marietta Paint in Kankakee. He came over one day and said he would like for me to come work for him in the paint laboratory. (When I started at Manteno I got paid $172.00 a month with room, board and laundry. When I went to the General store I started at about $210.00 a month.) When I left, I was up to $310.00, so when he started talking $520.00 a month, I really got excited. They sent me to school at University of Missouri at Rolla to study paint and polymer chemistry. To make a shorter story, I went to a chemical company in Chicago Heights, and stayed with them until Montgomery Ward went under.

I enjoyed my memories from Manteno, even enjoyed going to William Deming lectures on Quality Control, but I like being home, on my hill, in my own new house, looking at the beautiful hills in the distance, watching the sun coming up casting its unique colors all over.