Barbara Greenlee Toomer, West Valley City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, November 7, 2009

Transcript (52 pages) of interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Barbara Greenlee Toomer on November 7, 2009

Toomer (b. 1929) was born in Pasadena, California. She discusses her family and schooling. She graduated from St. Monica High School in 1947, where she was on the basketball, tennis, and swimming teams. She attended Santa Monica Junior College, graduated from El Camino College, and graduated from St. Joseph's College of Nursing in San Francisco. She discusses her school experiences and training during this three-year program. After graduating, she accepted a job at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica in the surgery department. She joined the Army Nursing Corp in April 1953, taking basic training at Fort Sam Houston before assignment to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in a variety of posts. She met and married her husband (also in the Army) and completed her Army commitment in 1955. She gave birth to a daughter in 1955. Transferred to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 1956. Barbara contracted polio in September of that year, along with five others from the base. She was hospitalized until January 1957 and recounts her hospital experiences, physical and occupational therapy. All of her limbs were affected and for a time was immobilized from the neck down. She regained considerable use of her arms (which are now quite limited with post-polio) but her legs never regained usefulness. After a series of moves around the country, she with her family moved to Utah in the early 1970's. Barbara has become an effective community activist, holding several paid and volunteer positions with various advocacy organizations, particularly for the disabled and disadvantaged. She discusses her interests, activities, accomplishments and continuing challenges in these areas. This interview is part of the Polio Oral History Project. Interviewer: Becky Lloyd