I was thinking of Denny just today as I rode through farmland south of Philly with former Phoenix neighbors. The wife was talking about sheep's wool available from one of the farms. Poor Dennis. And what a loss to all his friends. Pat
It's striking how often one can have flashbacks to a standout person like Denny Friend. (I still think of him as Dennis, from the days when I sat immediately behind him in the second or third grade at Roosevelt, and developed a terrific crush.) I was in the Middle East (Iran) when I learned of his death from a newspaper clipping sent by my folks. I'd been in Afghanistan briefly in 1975 and thought the handcrafted items utterly gorgeous. American expats in Tehran decorated their apartments with them. But ever after, the mention of Afghan woolen items brings a poignant twinge, just as Pat said. He was a stellar person, as typified by Bill's posting, and taken far too soon.
Clarence and Josephine Friend sat in the kitchen of the home they built 50 years ago on Oakland Parkway, the home where they raised their two sons, and thumbed through a scrapbook
The folder is filled with the life and death of one of those sons, Dennis Friend. The constant news on the television, radio and in the newspapers about anthrax exposures and deaths has stirred up 25 year old memories, back to January of 1976 when Denny died after contracting anthrax. “there have been a lot of sleepless nights, I’ll tell you.” Josephine Friend who will turn 85 Friday, said
Dennis Friend’s case was one of seven reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1976, the last year anthrax was confirmed in the United States until the current ash of cases in Florida, New York and Washington DC.
An artist who lived in California and taught and wove wall hanging from animal fiber, Friend was exposed to the disease from goat hair imported from Pakistan, Josephine Friend said.
“We talked to him (on a) Saturday night; he was happy, planning to come home for a visit. On Monday he wasn’t feeling well. His wife was on maternity leave and she taught his class for him. Thursday night at 2am we got a call from California that we wouldn’t make it, Josephine Friend said. “We thought he had the flu.”
Dennis Friend was 32 when he died. He left behind a wife, Kathy, who has since re-married, an infant daughter, Ashley, now in college, and a brother, Tom, a teacher in New Jersey.
Anthrax is not contagious, but Friend was treated as if the disease was. An autopsy had to be done, but the hospital where he was, wouldn’t do it, so the body was flown to UCLA’s medical center, and doctors from the CDC were flown in. Friend’s body had to be cremated After his death, his home and gallery were quarantine.
“We got on the next flight and went directly to the hospital. He was in isolation and on a ventilator, but we got to see him,” Josephine Friend said.
The goat hair was tracked to a source in New York City, and it was all burned, along with all weavings made with the fiber. While common in livestock, anthrax is rare in humans, especially in the United States. Fewer than 20 US cases were diagnosed in the 20th century, according to the CDC
The Friends became self-taught anthrax experts, reading everything they could get their hands on about the disease. But they never thought they would see anything resembling the attacks and scares gripping the country these days. “I can’t understand what’s in a person’s mind to do something like this,” Clarence Friend, 88, said.
The couple will be married 60 years in December, and they have lived almost half of that time with the void that comes with losing a child. “When Denny died, lots of people didn’t talk to us about it. People just didn’t know what to say. Now, people who remember or heard about it are talking to us. Even the minister said something to us last Sunday in church. He wasn’t here 25 years ago.
A Lima Senior High graduate, Dennis Friend listed in the yearbook that he wanted to be a commercial artist. He earned a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees and then went to work in Los Angeles. “He was a nice kid, always thinking of us. Even in grade school he earned prizes for art,” Josephine Friend said about the promise of her son’s career. “You would have heard good things from him.”
William G. Folland
Died of Anthrax in 1976
Pat Lynn
I was thinking of Denny just today as I rode through farmland south of Philly with former Phoenix neighbors. The wife was talking about sheep's wool available from one of the farms. Poor Dennis. And what a loss to all his friends. Pat
Melinda Barnhardt (Jud)
It's striking how often one can have flashbacks to a standout person like Denny Friend. (I still think of him as Dennis, from the days when I sat immediately behind him in the second or third grade at Roosevelt, and developed a terrific crush.) I was in the Middle East (Iran) when I learned of his death from a newspaper clipping sent by my folks. I'd been in Afghanistan briefly in 1975 and thought the handcrafted items utterly gorgeous. American expats in Tehran decorated their apartments with them. But ever after, the mention of Afghan woolen items brings a poignant twinge, just as Pat said. He was a stellar person, as typified by Bill's posting, and taken far too soon.
Ray Shaner
Ray Shaner
LIMA – DENNIS FRIEND
Clarence and Josephine Friend sat in the kitchen of the home they built 50 years ago on Oakland Parkway, the home where they raised their two sons, and thumbed through a scrapbook
The folder is filled with the life and death of one of those sons, Dennis Friend. The constant news on the television, radio and in the newspapers about anthrax exposures and deaths has stirred up 25 year old memories, back to January of 1976 when Denny died after contracting anthrax. “there have been a lot of sleepless nights, I’ll tell you.” Josephine Friend who will turn 85 Friday, said
Dennis Friend’s case was one of seven reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1976, the last year anthrax was confirmed in the United States until the current ash of cases in Florida, New York and Washington DC.
An artist who lived in California and taught and wove wall hanging from animal fiber, Friend was exposed to the disease from goat hair imported from Pakistan, Josephine Friend said.
“We talked to him (on a) Saturday night; he was happy, planning to come home for a visit. On Monday he wasn’t feeling well. His wife was on maternity leave and she taught his class for him. Thursday night at 2am we got a call from California that we wouldn’t make it, Josephine Friend said. “We thought he had the flu.”
Dennis Friend was 32 when he died. He left behind a wife, Kathy, who has since re-married, an infant daughter, Ashley, now in college, and a brother, Tom, a teacher in New Jersey.
Anthrax is not contagious, but Friend was treated as if the disease was. An autopsy had to be done, but the hospital where he was, wouldn’t do it, so the body was flown to UCLA’s medical center, and doctors from the CDC were flown in. Friend’s body had to be cremated After his death, his home and gallery were quarantine.
“We got on the next flight and went directly to the hospital. He was in isolation and on a ventilator, but we got to see him,” Josephine Friend said.
The goat hair was tracked to a source in New York City, and it was all burned, along with all weavings made with the fiber. While common in livestock, anthrax is rare in humans, especially in the United States. Fewer than 20 US cases were diagnosed in the 20th century, according to the CDC
The Friends became self-taught anthrax experts, reading everything they could get their hands on about the disease. But they never thought they would see anything resembling the attacks and scares gripping the country these days. “I can’t understand what’s in a person’s mind to do something like this,” Clarence Friend, 88, said.
The couple will be married 60 years in December, and they have lived almost half of that time with the void that comes with losing a child. “When Denny died, lots of people didn’t talk to us about it. People just didn’t know what to say. Now, people who remember or heard about it are talking to us. Even the minister said something to us last Sunday in church. He wasn’t here 25 years ago.
A Lima Senior High graduate, Dennis Friend listed in the yearbook that he wanted to be a commercial artist. He earned a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees and then went to work in Los Angeles. “He was a nice kid, always thinking of us. Even in grade school he earned prizes for art,” Josephine Friend said about the promise of her son’s career. “You would have heard good things from him.”