Name/Title
Photographs of Catherine and Mary BarrowEntry/Object ID
2021.19.306Scope and Content
Photographs from the 1920s of Catherine and Mary Barrow.
From Margaret Sparrow: "Mary was the older child. Marry Addison Barrow, my aunt, was a beautiful person, lovely to look at, intelligent, and charming. She began to exhibit odd behavior in her mid teens and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. In her twenties, she was able to work as an airline hostess and other similar jobs but as her mental condition deteriorated she became a heartbreak to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Barrow. Mental illness was not well understood at the time. Mary was often a resident at the St. Joseph State Hospital on Frederick Ave. When those mental institutionas were closed, she made her way to Florida and was kindly received in the Cuban community there, refugees from Castro's socialist country. Our family sent her money as sneeded and she occasionally came home at Christmas. She was a bit of a trial for my mother who was her guiardian after her parents died. I remember her playing with my brother, Stephen, and myself, in our sandbox when we lived in the "Little House". We would have been maybe four and five years old. She was wonderful to play with: Lively and funny and very much knowing what children would like and how to talk with them. Later on when I was older and her condition had worsened, she would arrive for holidays and she seemed strange to me. She had a very sad life. "Context
Digital copy