Albert SCHUETZE

The following was written by LaVerne Schuetze Wright. Uncle Albert was a favorite of all the kids. When I asked the various cousins to send me their memories of growing up, several sent stories that involved Uncle Albert. Uncle Albert was the only survivor of twins. His brother, Delbert, was stillborn, and Albert was born with a severe handicap. In addition to being very small at birth, he had a hernia. He walked on his tip-toes and could not place his heels on the floor. A doctor convinced his parents to let him perform surgery for the purpose of allowing Uncle Albert to walk normally. Instead, the surgery caused his legs to draw up at the knees and left him more crippled. In today's terminology, he would be referred to as handicapped, but in his lifetime, he was considered a "cripple." He may have had "two strikes against him before he ever had the opportunity to step up to the batter's plate" (in baseball lingo), but he was a survivor. In those days, there was no recourse for a doctor's mistake, but this was most definitely a case of medical malpractice. We will never know if the doctor was not knowledgeable, or perhaps inexperienced in this type of surgery, or if it was simply an honest medical mistake. For whatever reason, poor Uncle Albert lived the rest of his life severely handicapped. There was no such thing as government assistance in those days. Albert had no education but he made his living by riding a donkey through the countryside and selling Cloverine Salve. It was thought that this salve could heal any scratch or cut. Sometimes he was gone from home several weeks at a time as people along the way invited him to spend the nights and share in their meals. After Grandma died of a stroke, he lived with his siblings, one month with each, then moved on to another.

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