Phyllis Reynolds Oral History Interview, undated

Phyllis Reynolds married the son of the inventor of the "wooden lung," a cheaper alternative to the iron lung invented in Marquette County. She discusses the mystery of why polio epidemics were disproportionately terrible in the Upper Peninsula and recounts how her father-in-law came to invent the wooden lung and his decision to not patent the invention and to publish instructions on how to build them. She also discusses her own daughter's contraction of polio, the "hysterical" reaction of the community to polio that led to people being afraid of her daughter, treatments her daughter tried, and post-polio syndrome symptoms and research. Finally, she discusses fundraising organizations such as the March of Dimes and the Crippled Children's Commission and the history of Bay Cliff Health Camp, which started as a camp for malnourished children before becoming a physical therapy camp and later a special education camp. NOTE: Phyllis claims that she had a friend who was in an iron lung while pregnant. In another interview, that friend says that is inaccurate. The name of the friend has been redacted from the audio at her own request in another audio recording.