.
CHICAGO, Illinois / The Chicago Tribune / July 19, 2009
By Ofelia Casillas | Tribune reporter
Lucille Taliaferro documented her long, rich life. She collected faded pictures of herself as a young girl, yellowing newspaper clips about her unusual service in World War II and stamped passports from travels around the world. She wrote at least 20 books, poetry and endless manuscripts.
As she grew old, she even made preparations to document her final moments. In a 1993 letter filed carefully with her other correspondence, she asked a cousin to write her obituary when the time came.
Then one day, almost three years ago, elderly and delusional, she fell asleep at a McDonald's restaurant. She refused to go to a hospital, so officials took her home -- only to find she had no electricity, and 2 feet of water stood in her basement. She ended up a ward of Cook County.
Items found in the home of Lucille Taliaferro, including three passports that chronicle travels to some 20 countries, including Liberia, Ghana, Austria and Canada. David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / June 11, 2009
It is not unusual for the county's public guardian attorneys, who protect the assets of elderly people, to find hoarded junk in their homes. What was unusual about Taliaferro's things is that they were displayed by theme, as in a museum, room by room.
Related links
Piecing together Lucilla Taliaferro's history Photos
As officials decided which to keep, sell and throw away, they discovered something unexpected: a remarkable life story.
Their questions mounted.
Did Taliaferro, who was a soldier in the U.S. Army and traveled extensively but never married, ever find love? Two valentine cards, a male military portrait and a dog tag with a man's name point to yes -- not to mention the love poems. But a folded letter written decades later, found still in its envelope, also suggests that Taliaferro considered becoming a nun.
Now 87, the Chicago woman lives in the secured Alzheimer's unit of a Crestwood nursing home. She's a walking archive who, for the most part, doesn't want to talk about any of it.
Those caring for her noted how important it had once been for her to chronicle her history. Even as Taliaferro declined to speak to a
Tribune reporter and have her photograph taken, they decided to share her story, doing what they think she would have wanted had she been lucid enough to make an informed decision. Her attorneys were willing to give access to the documents in hopes of piecing together the story of Taliaferro's life and preserving the documents that have historical worth.
Eight decades of her life now sit in piles on the carpet and in suitcases at her attorney's office in downtown Chicago. While Cook County public guardian attorneys represent roughly 7,000 children in state care, a different division represents almost 600 elderly and disabled people unable to manage their lives. Because many photos, medals, letters and passports document Taliaferro's service in World War II and the Korean War -- particularly unusual for African-American women of her era -- attorneys plan to donate them to a museum that claims to be the only one in the world dedicated solely to telling the story of women in military service.
Pouring over the documents: Peter Kelly, director of the Alzheimer's program at the Crestwood Care Centre in Crestwood, IL., and public guardian attorney, Carrie Fung, read from the books of Lucille Taliaferro, a Crestwood Care resident who published several books during her life. Taliaferro's care fell to the Cook County Guardian Office when she was found sleeping at a restaurant suffering from dementia and paranoia more than two years ago. David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / June 7, 2009
"It helps not only to tell her story but that of all women soldiers, from the colonial period to the present time," said Ron Bingham, collections manager at the U.S. Army Women's Museum in Ft. Lee, Va. "It helps put that puzzle together. It's a very untold history, a very important history."
The basic facts of Taliaferro's life are these. A birth certificate says she was born Oct., 4, 1921, in Gressitt, Va. A worn, faded photo album shows her smiling as a child with three other young women, presumably older sisters. In a letter to a relative, Taliaferro says she grew up reading Sherlock Holmes novels.
A newspaper clip found taped to a wooden board told of her deployment to Iowa and Indiana as a medical technician in the U.S. Army "to release men working on the post hospital for combat duty" during World War II.
Military documents show she was honorably discharged in 1947, then worked briefly as a nurse's aide in Chicago before finally finishing high school. According to her diploma, taped to the back of her graduation portrait, Taliaferro graduated fifth in her class in 1947. In her commencement brochure, she wrote, "I was #5!"
The graduate: A college graduation photograph of Lucille Taliaferro found in her home. Taliaferro graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois. (David Pierini,
Chicago Tribune / June 11, 2009)
There was another diploma, this one a bachelor of science degree, specializing in social studies, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1950. Her hometown newspaper wrote: "The only [local] female veteran of World War II received her B.S. degree from the University of Illinois."
That year she was called back to the Army, but asked for a delay so that she could continue to teach in the Chicago public school system. Denied, she moved to Ft. Lewis, Wash., until she was honorably discharged in 1951.
Another newspaper clip said Taliaferro was "One of Six Chicago Southsiders to graduate from the University of Illinois in 1955" with a master's degree in education. That year, she posed for a photo with her special-education students.
According to mortgage records, Taliaferro bought a home for $18,600 in the 9600 block of South Union Avenue on Chicago's South Side. She eventually paid it off.
In that home, where she lived since 1959, attorneys discovered boxes of more than 20 self-published books written by Taliaferro between 1976 and 1993. Her first book of original poetry was titled "Nostalgia" (1976). Other books included collections of religious hymns. It is not known if any were ever sold to the public.
On the dust jacket for "Nostalgia," she wrote: "The majority of these poems were composed while working alone in an army hospital on night duty, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. during World War II, 1943 to 1945."
In one poem, she seemed to aspire for the love that other artifacts also hinted at. "Love, please come to me before I am old and gray," she wrote in one poem, "Love Come to Me."
One of her other life passions was travel. Among her possessions was a typed list of 20 countries she had visited since 1937, including Liberia, Ghana, Austria and Canada, and photos of herself in a fur bolero, shaking the captain's hand on cruise ships.
In addition to nursing and teaching, Taliaferro sought other ways to help people.
On a 1971 cruise to Haiti, when she would have been about 50, she considered becoming a nun, according to a letter she wrote her pastor.
"God has been revealing to me His plan for the remainder of my life," wrote Taliaferro, who kept copies of letters she penned. "It is with joy and humility that I accept His will."
In another letter, Taliaferro considered joining the Peace Corps. "I simply want to continue helping others," she wrote.
But there was a dark period, too, about which Taliaferro left little to explain. In the 1970s, after a run-in with police, Taliaferro suffered some mental health problems and checked herself into a Tinley Park treatment facility under a different last name. No more is known.
Her love of writing showed not only in her books, but also in her correspondence with relatives. A teacher through and through, she even circled their spelling errors.
In one touching letter, written in 1993, she asked her cousin to write her obituary when the time came.
"Please put anything in the obituary, as long as it is accurate," Taliaferro wrote.
When Taliaferro first met public guardian case manager Jacqueline Davis about two years ago, she talked about her former life. But then she shut down, Davis said.
Months ago, Taliaferro moved to a Crestwood nursing home and started to come out of her shell intermittently. She asked what had happened to her home (they told her it was sold to fund her care) and what had been done with her documents and medals (they were in her attorney's office).
"Her long-term memory is phenomenal," nursing home program manager Peter Kelly said. "This woman is a walking history book."
She has not had contact with family members, attorneys said. And she hasn't recently mentioned or asked for anyone. Weeks before Taliaferro was found at McDonald's in 2006, her sister died.
Caretakers were cheered earlier this year when Taliaferro started posting clippings on a corkboard, following the news about President Barack Obama. She asked for copies of her books. She reached out to a publisher and began writing in a journal. Then she asked officials to buy her a typewriter.
"I'm ready to write again," Taliaferro told Davis.
Those caring for Taliaferro considered it a sign that she might be willing, at last, to write her story's ending.
So far, the typewriter sits untouched in a nursing home office. [
rc]
ocasillas@tribune.com
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
Items found in the home of Lucille Taliaferro, including three passports that chronicle travels to some 20 countries, including Liberia, Ghana, Austria and Canada. David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / June 11, 2009
It is not unusual for the county's public guardian attorneys, who protect the assets of elderly people, to find hoarded junk in their homes. What was unusual about Taliaferro's things is that they were displayed by theme, as in a museum, room by room.
Related links
Piecing together Lucilla Taliaferro's history Photos
As officials decided which to keep, sell and throw away, they discovered something unexpected: a remarkable life story.
Their questions mounted.
Did Taliaferro, who was a soldier in the U.S. Army and traveled extensively but never married, ever find love? Two valentine cards, a male military portrait and a dog tag with a man's name point to yes -- not to mention the love poems. But a folded letter written decades later, found still in its envelope, also suggests that Taliaferro considered becoming a nun.
Now 87, the Chicago woman lives in the secured Alzheimer's unit of a Crestwood nursing home. She's a walking archive who, for the most part, doesn't want to talk about any of it.
Those caring for her noted how important it had once been for her to chronicle her history. Even as Taliaferro declined to speak to a Tribune reporter and have her photograph taken, they decided to share her story, doing what they think she would have wanted had she been lucid enough to make an informed decision. Her attorneys were willing to give access to the documents in hopes of piecing together the story of Taliaferro's life and preserving the documents that have historical worth.
Eight decades of her life now sit in piles on the carpet and in suitcases at her attorney's office in downtown Chicago. While Cook County public guardian attorneys represent roughly 7,000 children in state care, a different division represents almost 600 elderly and disabled people unable to manage their lives. Because many photos, medals, letters and passports document Taliaferro's service in World War II and the Korean War -- particularly unusual for African-American women of her era -- attorneys plan to donate them to a museum that claims to be the only one in the world dedicated solely to telling the story of women in military service.
Pouring over the documents: Peter Kelly, director of the Alzheimer's program at the Crestwood Care Centre in Crestwood, IL., and public guardian attorney, Carrie Fung, read from the books of Lucille Taliaferro, a Crestwood Care resident who published several books during her life. Taliaferro's care fell to the Cook County Guardian Office when she was found sleeping at a restaurant suffering from dementia and paranoia more than two years ago. David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / June 7, 2009
"It helps not only to tell her story but that of all women soldiers, from the colonial period to the present time," said Ron Bingham, collections manager at the U.S. Army Women's Museum in Ft. Lee, Va. "It helps put that puzzle together. It's a very untold history, a very important history."
The basic facts of Taliaferro's life are these. A birth certificate says she was born Oct., 4, 1921, in Gressitt, Va. A worn, faded photo album shows her smiling as a child with three other young women, presumably older sisters. In a letter to a relative, Taliaferro says she grew up reading Sherlock Holmes novels.
A newspaper clip found taped to a wooden board told of her deployment to Iowa and Indiana as a medical technician in the U.S. Army "to release men working on the post hospital for combat duty" during World War II.
Military documents show she was honorably discharged in 1947, then worked briefly as a nurse's aide in Chicago before finally finishing high school. According to her diploma, taped to the back of her graduation portrait, Taliaferro graduated fifth in her class in 1947. In her commencement brochure, she wrote, "I was #5!"
The graduate: A college graduation photograph of Lucille Taliaferro found in her home. Taliaferro graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois. (David Pierini,
Chicago Tribune / June 11, 2009)
There was another diploma, this one a bachelor of science degree, specializing in social studies, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1950. Her hometown newspaper wrote: "The only [local] female veteran of World War II received her B.S. degree from the University of Illinois."
That year she was called back to the Army, but asked for a delay so that she could continue to teach in the Chicago public school system. Denied, she moved to Ft. Lewis, Wash., until she was honorably discharged in 1951.
Another newspaper clip said Taliaferro was "One of Six Chicago Southsiders to graduate from the University of Illinois in 1955" with a master's degree in education. That year, she posed for a photo with her special-education students.
According to mortgage records, Taliaferro bought a home for $18,600 in the 9600 block of South Union Avenue on Chicago's South Side. She eventually paid it off.
In that home, where she lived since 1959, attorneys discovered boxes of more than 20 self-published books written by Taliaferro between 1976 and 1993. Her first book of original poetry was titled "Nostalgia" (1976). Other books included collections of religious hymns. It is not known if any were ever sold to the public.
On the dust jacket for "Nostalgia," she wrote: "The majority of these poems were composed while working alone in an army hospital on night duty, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. during World War II, 1943 to 1945."
In one poem, she seemed to aspire for the love that other artifacts also hinted at. "Love, please come to me before I am old and gray," she wrote in one poem, "Love Come to Me."
One of her other life passions was travel. Among her possessions was a typed list of 20 countries she had visited since 1937, including Liberia, Ghana, Austria and Canada, and photos of herself in a fur bolero, shaking the captain's hand on cruise ships.
In addition to nursing and teaching, Taliaferro sought other ways to help people.
On a 1971 cruise to Haiti, when she would have been about 50, she considered becoming a nun, according to a letter she wrote her pastor.
"God has been revealing to me His plan for the remainder of my life," wrote Taliaferro, who kept copies of letters she penned. "It is with joy and humility that I accept His will."
In another letter, Taliaferro considered joining the Peace Corps. "I simply want to continue helping others," she wrote.
But there was a dark period, too, about which Taliaferro left little to explain. In the 1970s, after a run-in with police, Taliaferro suffered some mental health problems and checked herself into a Tinley Park treatment facility under a different last name. No more is known.
Her love of writing showed not only in her books, but also in her correspondence with relatives. A teacher through and through, she even circled their spelling errors.
In one touching letter, written in 1993, she asked her cousin to write her obituary when the time came.
"Please put anything in the obituary, as long as it is accurate," Taliaferro wrote.
When Taliaferro first met public guardian case manager Jacqueline Davis about two years ago, she talked about her former life. But then she shut down, Davis said.
Months ago, Taliaferro moved to a Crestwood nursing home and started to come out of her shell intermittently. She asked what had happened to her home (they told her it was sold to fund her care) and what had been done with her documents and medals (they were in her attorney's office).
"Her long-term memory is phenomenal," nursing home program manager Peter Kelly said. "This woman is a walking history book."
She has not had contact with family members, attorneys said. And she hasn't recently mentioned or asked for anyone. Weeks before Taliaferro was found at McDonald's in 2006, her sister died.
Caretakers were cheered earlier this year when Taliaferro started posting clippings on a corkboard, following the news about President Barack Obama. She asked for copies of her books. She reached out to a publisher and began writing in a journal. Then she asked officials to buy her a typewriter.
"I'm ready to write again," Taliaferro told Davis.
Those caring for Taliaferro considered it a sign that she might be willing, at last, to write her story's ending.
So far, the typewriter sits untouched in a nursing home office. [rc]
ocasillas@tribune.com
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
