News
Email
Print
Longtime iron-lung patient dies at 71
Martha Mason was first in class at Wake Forest
AP Photo
Martha Mason's attitude expanded her world far beyond the iron lung where she was confined after contracting polio. She is thought to have lived in an iron lung longer than anyone in the world.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: May 6, 2009
LATTIMORE
Martha Mason, a graduate of Wake Forest University whose will, intellect and curiosity expanded her world far beyond the iron lung that confined her for 61 years, died Monday at home. She would have turned 72 next month.
She was thought to have lived in an iron lung longer than anyone else in the world.
Mason contracted polio in 1948, when she was 11. The disease, which killed her older brother, left her paralyzed from the neck down. But she refused to be defined by her physical state.
"I'm what goes on inside my head," she said in an interview in 2003. She went on to graduate first in her classes at Gardner-Webb College (now university) and at Wake Forest, where she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Ed Wilson, the provost emeritus at Wake Forest, taught her in two classes. Mason lived in faculty apartments with her parents, and she listened to his lectures through an intercom system, while her mother took notes.
"When a paper was due, she would write the paper in her head and get her mother to write it down," Wilson said.
"The great thing about it is that she made an absolute, straight, clear A. That is an indication of not only her brilliance as a student but her determination."
Mason's world expanded, and she was able to fulfill her dreams of being an author when she got a voice-activated computer. She used it to produce her memoir, Breath: Life in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung in 2003. Wake Forest awarded her its Pro Humanitate award that year.
Mary Dalton, an associate professor of communications at Wake Forest, made Martha in Lattimore, a documentary film that tells the story of Mason and her connection with her small hometown about 50 miles west of Charlotte. Dalton's mother grew up near Lattimore, and Dalton had always heard about Mason, she said.
"It sort of got to gnawing at me as an adult that I really wanted to meet her," Dalton said.
They clicked immediately and became close friends.
People who didn't know Mason well often became wrapped up in her extraordinary achievements, Dalton said. But as a friend, Dalton thought more about how much she enjoyed talking to Mason and getting e-mails from her.
"You don't think about the iron lung," Dalton said. "That's exactly how she wanted it."
Dalton's documentary explored Mason's daily life, which included the comings and goings of friends. People in Lattimore made her a part of their lives. Couples getting married stopped by in their wedding attire. Graduates showed up in their caps and gowns.
"People came by because they wanted to," Dalton said. "They wanted to share things with Martha."
Just in the past few months, Wilson said, Mason got a Facebook account, another tool that she could use to help her stay in touch.
"She continued to be a modern woman," he said.
■ Janice Gaston can be reached at 727-7364 or at jgaston@wsjournal.com.
In rememberance
A memorial service for Martha Mason will be held at 3 p.m. today at Lattimore Baptist Church, 303 Peachtree Road. Visitation will begin at 2 in the church's fellowship hall.
Email
Print
