Photoessay #718 - Encephalitis Induced Parkinson's

A mystery gone to the grave in Dennis' family.

When you talked to his mother Lanaya Ruth Anderson Barnes, she would say that she had no mother. Or that her mother died when she was little. In any case, she grew up with her father, either living in their own home or with relatives. No divorce or anything like that. Yet her mother died when Lanaya was 21. Where did Ruth Ate Anderson go?

When I asked Cousin Alice or Uncle Les, they would whisper in guarded tones "oh, sleeping sickness, such a shame, oh no" and would refuse to answer any further questions. Apparently, Ruth lived in an institution and Lanaya was rarely, if ever, allowed to see her. Yet there were references to letters from her or that she looked so bad, her teeth, etc. Lanaya worried her entire life if she was capable of being a good mother ('I never had a mother') and if she would go insane (presumably her fear about her mother).

For a long time, I could not figure out what had happened. Sleeping sickness? Encephalitis? Didn't that have to do with flies in Africa. But she lived in the roaring 20s in Seattle. It all did not make sense.

Until, about 20 years ago, one evening I was reading a book about viruses written by a local epidemiologist. About people who survived the 1918 flu epidemic. Many survivors later developed encephalitis which turned into some form of Parkinsons. Encephalitis induced Parkinsons. And, years ago there were a large number of people with this form of Parkinsons who were institutionalized. Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, all that. Many many people were institutionalized and we have all collectively forgotten about them.

Boing, that was it! That's what happened to Ruth. She survived the 1918 flu epidemic, got the dreaded encephalitis and then developed Parkinson's or Parkinsonism. Put away in some sort of state and was never allowed to see her young daughter. A disgrace. A shame. Never to be spoken of. Better that the young child doesn't know.

Lanaya passed away a year or so ago after over 5 years in a nursing home for dementia. All her life, she suffered from this treatment of her mother. All her life.

Picture of Ruth Ate Anderson. From Jim's photo albums. A lot of the pictures are not identified. But I can tell because this young woman looks just like Lanaya.