Maggie Mae Blackwood Christy

(November 27, 1927 ~ November 19, 1954)

Maggie, daughter of Roy Ernest Blackwood and Alletha M. 'Allie' Nason, married to Ted Dwight Christy and buried in Tuscola Cemetery, Tuscola, Taylor County, Texas.

'Iron Lung' Baby's Mother Loses 2-Year Polio Battle

Mrs. Ted Christy, who gave birth of her second daughter in an iron lung, lost her two-year battle with polio Friday night at 11:30 o'clock when she died in Hendrick Memorial Hospital.

Mrs. Christy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Blackwood of Tuscola, was stricken with bulbar and spinal polio on Oct. 14, 1952.  She would have been 27 years old next Saturday.

She was taken to Hendrick and placed in an iron lung.  Two months later, on Dec. 10, her second daughter.  Bonnie Jeanne, was born, the first "iron lung baby" to arrive at Hendrick.

Returned to Abilene

Mrs. Christy was taken to the polio center in Houston in February, 1953, and had received treatment there and at Gonzales Warm Springs Foundation until she returned home to Abilene last August.

Her husband, who had operated the Key City Glass and Mirror Co. here, gave up his business and took a job in Houston to be near his wife.

The Christy family had mad their home at 1957 South Third St. since returning to Abilene.

Mrs. Christy was taken to the hospital Nov. 3.  She had spent at least part of every day in an iron lung ever since being stricken with the illness.

Born Nov. 27, 1927, at Tuscola, she was the former Maggie Mae Blackwood.  A 1944 graduate of Tuscola High School, she was married to Mr. Christy on April 5, 1946.

She had worked for the Reporter-News and the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Abilene.

Survivors include her husband, two daughters, Karen, 4, and Bonnie, almost 2; her parents; one brother, Len Blackwood, Abilene fire marshall; and two sisters, Mrs. Cecil Bellew, 1110 Hickory St., and Mrs. Doyle Riddle of Tuscola.

Funeral will be held Monday at 10 a.m. in the Kiker-Warren.  Funeral Home chapel.  Burial will be in Tuscola Cemetery.