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From the Morgue
Sharon Sanders
The Southeast Missourian's resident historian Sharon K. Sanders blogs about interesting pieces of local history pulled from the newspaper's morgue -- the place where our old editions are kept.
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Sabin polio vaccine introduced here on day of tragedy

Posted Tuesday, March 8, 2016, at 12:00 AM

A longtime reader of the Southeast Missourian recently brought me a clipping she had saved.

It shows a "practice run" for the distribution of the Sabin oral polio vaccine in Cape Girardeau. While the clipping was undated, I was able to find it when I did a search on the name of one of the nurses pictured in the photo: Patricia Bixler. A quick check of the microfilm led me to a surprise. The photograph, accompanied by an article explaining the vaccine distribution at "feeding stations," appeared on the front page of the Missourian's Nov. 22, 1963, edition.

What may have been intended as the lead story for that day was pushed below the fold by the tragic events in Dallas.

Here is that story explaining the plans for the vaccine clinic, as well as the photograph that started my search.

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  • I often said that when my family came out of Central High School after getting our dose, we heard the news that Jack Ruby had shot Lee Harvey Oswald.

    You know how it is with memories: sometimes you aren't sure if it actually happened or if you only THOUGHT it happened.

    Thanks for confirming my story. Now if I could just find proof that I delivered The Missourian in the snow, up hill both ways, on a bicycle that had no seat, then my kids will stop rolling their eyes at me.

    -- Posted by ksteinhoff on Tue, Mar 8, 2016, at 1:32 PM

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